The Group Ride
Last week I did 62 miles. This was the longest ride that I have ever been on. It was great. There were several times during the ride that I was looking for the quick way out. I felt like there is no way that I can finish this ride, so I needed to turn around. As the ride progressed I found more and more motivation to just keep going. It started to feel really good to just be on the bike. I felt like I found a rhythm and I could no longer feel the torture of the ride. It was almost like I was a passenger on the ride and the evolution of it was not entirely dependent on me.
My biggest test came at about mile 15. There was this hill from hell. It went up and up and made a turn and went up some more. Every time that you felt like this ride could not go on any more there was a turn and yet another stretch of incline. Today somebody said that it was about 4800ft. I just know that it was long.
What I took away from that ride was the feeling that I could do anything. I feel like with the right amount of training I could do any ride. I think that my training to this point has been very successful. So I thought that as a result of my success I should join a group. I know that I will never push myself as hard as when I am being pushed.
Today was the first group ride.
The ride was fun. We went about 25 miles at a pretty fast pace. There were really no hills to speak of, but we were moving. I felt really good to be able to keep up. I was with the front of the pack the entire ride. I was telling my wife that I think that I have a natural aptitude for being on the bike.
I can’t wait until the next time I am able to ride again. I want to always improve. The group does a quick twenty-something ride every Sunday. Every Saturday they do longer rides at different speeds. I want to start to ride on the Saturdays and the Sundays. I think that I am going to change my during the week rides to just hills. I think that it is my hill work that enabled me to keep up like I did. I have some really serious hills in my area and I am going to try to tackle each one of them.
I started riding in February. On February 11th I rode for 25 miles in an event. On March 17th I did 62 miles in the Tour de Sewer. My goal is to do a century before the year is out. Maybe I should say that was the goal.
There is a small voice in my head that is telling me that I can do a double century this year. When that voice first started talking to me I laughed. I laughed hard. Even though the voice was inside my head, my laugh was certainly audible. I heard that voice again today. It came to me as we were rounding the last turn of the ride. It was speaking to me as I was thinking about: how well I was doing, how many people in my ride today that have been riding for years, and how when I first showed up to the group today they were giving me directions for when I fell way behind the group. Today I heard the voice and there was no audible laughter, just a quiet smile.
My biggest test came at about mile 15. There was this hill from hell. It went up and up and made a turn and went up some more. Every time that you felt like this ride could not go on any more there was a turn and yet another stretch of incline. Today somebody said that it was about 4800ft. I just know that it was long.
What I took away from that ride was the feeling that I could do anything. I feel like with the right amount of training I could do any ride. I think that my training to this point has been very successful. So I thought that as a result of my success I should join a group. I know that I will never push myself as hard as when I am being pushed.
Today was the first group ride.
The ride was fun. We went about 25 miles at a pretty fast pace. There were really no hills to speak of, but we were moving. I felt really good to be able to keep up. I was with the front of the pack the entire ride. I was telling my wife that I think that I have a natural aptitude for being on the bike.
I can’t wait until the next time I am able to ride again. I want to always improve. The group does a quick twenty-something ride every Sunday. Every Saturday they do longer rides at different speeds. I want to start to ride on the Saturdays and the Sundays. I think that I am going to change my during the week rides to just hills. I think that it is my hill work that enabled me to keep up like I did. I have some really serious hills in my area and I am going to try to tackle each one of them.
I started riding in February. On February 11th I rode for 25 miles in an event. On March 17th I did 62 miles in the Tour de Sewer. My goal is to do a century before the year is out. Maybe I should say that was the goal.
There is a small voice in my head that is telling me that I can do a double century this year. When that voice first started talking to me I laughed. I laughed hard. Even though the voice was inside my head, my laugh was certainly audible. I heard that voice again today. It came to me as we were rounding the last turn of the ride. It was speaking to me as I was thinking about: how well I was doing, how many people in my ride today that have been riding for years, and how when I first showed up to the group today they were giving me directions for when I fell way behind the group. Today I heard the voice and there was no audible laughter, just a quiet smile.
posted by The Sonflower at 4:39 PM
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