Wed July 22 rides

I heard about a new and different group that ride on Wednesdays out of Gardner and thought I'd join them. The fun thing is, it is only 12 driving minutes from my house, and I never have anything close to me. Unfortunately, they start at 5:30 which means I most likely won't be able to do these rides because I can't get out of work in time. I worked at home today, which allowed me to go.

Tonight was a transition night for me. I never rode with this group before and when I got there I found that the C rides avg 14 mph, and the B rides avg 18-19 mph. The C ride would be too slow for me and the B ride too fast. After introducing myself and talking to folks I was assured that there would be slower B riders that would be going 16-17 mph. They instantly stepped up to introduce themselves to me, and off we went.

It was a bit challenging in areas, but it didn't kill me like I thought it might. We rode 34 miles north through Winchendon up to East Rindge in southern New Hampshire back down through Ashburnham and back to Gardner. It was very fun, and I held up pretty well. It was generally rolling 4 to 7% grades with 1 mile long 10% grade at about mile 31 so it wasn't bad.

This group is extremely friendly, not competitive, very encouraging and helped me alot. I held with them well until the last 10% hill and when I got to the top one of the guys swung back and pulled me to the group that were a little beyond the crest, and that allowed my heart rate to drop back down out of the red zone. The group was so sweet. They knew it was my first transition ride to higher avg speeds so they didn't expect me to work alot. And, I didn't because I couldn't. I basically pulled only 2 times and a fairly short stretch of about 1.5 miles each. They were great and I hope to make a least a couple more rides.

So I did 34 miles at 17.1 mph. Gotta love group riding. I can do 16.x miles an hour on my own, but haven't done that greater than 28 miles.

The ride I try to make on Mondays have suggested I transition to the B group. So now I know that I can do this, well, if there are slower riders that fall off the back.:)

Great job joining the new group. Hopefully you can catch them again sometime. :)

I just rode my bike for an hour or so doing errands around town. Picked up my contact lenses, hit the bank, and the grocery store. I LOVE living so close to so many things, and since the temps have been in the low 90's instead of the low 100's- it feels SOOOO great outside. :)

Yesterday, I took a fantastic 26-mile ride before work, on one of my favorite routes. It features nice paved surfaces, some trails, good climbs, and a river view at certain points. Such a great way to start the morning.

Today, however, I was super tired (I probably didn't get enough sleep), and my performance during my spin class was not exactly inspirational ;) I did get better as the class progressed, but I just wasn't that into it mentally. Reminds me how much more I prefer cycling outside than to spinning...

I just wish it never snowed here!

I tried out a new group ride yesterday too!

This was a women's only ride starting from an LBS that I'd never been to before. As I was driving there from work, it started to rain :(
The ride still happened, though the ride leader didn't show up. So it was pretty unorganized--spent 20 minutes debating which route they'd take :eek:.

We finally rolled out 20 minutes late and got about 8 miles from LBS when it started pouring. We turned around and went back. Overall, not a great ride (wet and a little slow for my taste--avg speed 15 mph).

But there is a positive: I crossed 1,000 miles on my bike!

I don't normally post in these threads but had to get this humbling experience off my chest--yesterday I was passed by a jogger while riding my bike!

I was taking it really easy yesterday (I had been feeling like crap, achy and bad headache and some tingling/numbness in one arm for about 24 hours, so I had gone to the doctor and discovered that my blood pressure was really high for no apparent reason; possibly just stress, possibly viral, possibly Lyme - I had an unfortunate encounter with a tick about two months ago. But in any event I wasn't going to push myself last night) and was riding a loop around a college campus where I knew I could get in a pretty good workout without anything especially challenging. On my last loop around, there was a jogger in front of me. It took me a bit to catch up with her at the bottom of a hill when I was going about 12 or 13 m.p.h. but I passed her and kept going. But when the hill got steeper I slowed way down and she apparently put on her jet pack--she flew by me and made it to the top of the hill long before me! I was going about 8 m.p.h. when she passed me.

I have to keep telling myself that she was half my age, probably a competitive college athlete, probably hadn't come off a 9 hour shift at work after being up in the night with a sick kid, and probably not suffering from high blood pressure. But really, back when I was a competitive college athlete with no particular responsibilities outside of my own interests, I could still not have run that fast!

And she was really cute, too.

Sarah