After about eight weeks off the bike I finally got out with my team, South Town Velo, for a ride. I figured they’d hurt me a bit, since of course they have all been riding consistently since this time last year. Route choices included a 53 miler and a 76 miler – with plenty of logical bail out points throughout. I figured I’d be taking one of those bail outs.
Heading out we had a pretty strong tailwind. With a couple of strong guys taking right to the front, we headed out at 27-28 mph. I still felt pretty good in the shelter of the group, but when my turn at the front came up it was clear I was a bit out of my league. I still put in a reasonable pull, and then headed to the back. I found that as long as I was tucked in with a good draft I was fine – nice low heart rate even with the big gears and high speed. For the rest of the ride I either stayed in the back, or took really short pulls when I did make it to the front.
My only other problem was hills. Any time we got to a hill I couldn’t keep up. When I’m fit I’m usually among the best climbers in the group – not quite the fastest, but not too far off either. Saturday I couldn’t do anything up a hill, and we didn’t even climb any that were that big. So around 20 miles into the ride, at one of the first easy bail outs, I headed home. One other teammate, Dave, came in with me. While I would have struggled to hang onto the back of the group had I stuck with them, rolling back home into the wind wasn’t going to be easy either.
When the wind got really bad, towards the end of the ride, Dave and I took turns pulling into it. With 5 or so miles left we passed Dave’s turn for home, and I was on my own, and planned to just take it easy for there on in. A few blocks later though a group of ten or so riders came up behind me. It was the Team O ride! My former teammates told me to hop in, and I did. What was looking like a 13 mph struggle to get in on my own turned into a brisk 20mph ride back to the car. And as a bonus I got to catch up with a few friends I hadn’t talked with in quite a while!
Overall it was a great day. While I’m clearly not in the greatest shape, I’m also not as bad off as I might have expected to be. The power isn’t there, but the strength and endurance seems to be. I’m hoping to get out on the bike a bit more over the next couple of months while I build up my base for PCT!
