June 18th rides

[OakLeaf]

I was hurting tonight on the Wednesday club ride - not sure why, but I have a suspicion I haven't been getting enough protein lately. Well, I fixed that post-ride with a big piece of meat. Never mind I've hardly been riding at all with all the running around I've been doing - I don't think I could've gotten so out of shape so quickly considering I've been running and/or teaching aerobics at least five days a week.

Only three of us showed up. I guess the others were afraid of rain! A few drops had blown through earlier in the day, but there was nothing on the radar, and it turned out to be a perfectly nice night, if a little chilly and cloudy.

The ride leader flatted on a descent about 12 miles in. I was going 35 mph when I saw him hit a hole, heard his tire go and hit my brakes - he was probably doing about the same or a little quicker. Thankfully he kept the bike upright and got it stopped. He put in a new tube and we continued on.

By the end of the evening it was getting chilly. I had on a wool base layer but short sleeves and shorts, and I was really wishing I'd worn tights - my thighs were freezing, and that definitely wasn't helping me go any faster. So when we finally rolled into town I was glad for the extra warmth as much as being done with a ride that was pretty tough for me.

Not so quick though - less than a mile from the finish, the other rider ran over a BIG hole and flatted. They told me to go ahead on if I wanted, but I figured I might as well hang with them, DH isn't home tonight and I had no place better to go. We put a new tube in his rear tire, he got on the bike and got ready to ride back - and his front tire was flat too! Good thing I stuck around, since each of us only had one spare tube, and it was a pretty big snakebite in his front, probably not patchable.

At least I managed to ride without getting a flat of my own! But my legs were done, totally done. I gave a yeowoman's try at a final sprint but could only manage 25 mph.

37.68 miles, 1905 feet of climbing (there were a couple of pretty good hills, but most of the climbing was in the first half of the route), moving average 15.8 mph, 22 minutes sitting around changing flat tires