Tuesday Night Worlds

Tuesday Night Worlds...that's the name we give our Tuesday training ride. Basically it means that we ride as hard and as fast as we can with no letup until we puke, cramp, or finish hard to the end. This is usually done along a route we call the "Linwood Loop" which is about 30 miles of half-smooth, half-rough roads with adequate hills to make it interesting, lots of flat areas, and a few really fun downhills. It's been more interesting this year because a group of tri-guys called Team Psycho races with us and really challenges us. Of course, they're on their tri-bikes with the aerobars and fast wheels so we have to take it to them with pure muscle and racing smarts. But they're quick learners and it's actually fun to have them out there with us...makes us work harder.

Tonight was probably the fastest we've done the Loop. Our speed was constantly in the 27-30 mph range, just plain crazy fast, and I was surprised at how well I did even without a warmup (and usually I NEED a warmup). I took a few pulls at the front when we were on Ellerbe Road, including one where I glanced at a 31 mph reading on the bike computer...was that me doing that? When we turned onto Highway 175, there really was no letup. Patrick took a long flyer off the front and some of us tried to slow the pack to give him a chance but he was reeled in eventually. Bolt tried one, too, but he wasn't really giving it much effort...we brought him back in. So basically the pack stayed together and stayed fast. You'd have to really pump it to get away. After we went over a small rise on the way to Frierson, Dave S tried a nice little move but the Psycho guys covered it. That was when Calvin (a member of both LaS'port and Psycho) made a huge jump around the pack while we were still about a kilometer from the village. I saw him start that from the beginning and I latched onto his rear wheel. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Bolt swing in behind me and off we went. We were hitting 35 mph and Calvin was totally in time-trial position with me stuck to his wheel. With about 200 meters to go, I was wearing out fast and I motioned to Bolt to go around me which he did. I looked back and there was nobody else even remotely close to us! That was fun and eventually everyone caught me before we got to the railroad tracks.

The rest of the ride was, again, just plain fast. It drives me crazy that Russ, Patrick, Bolt, and Sinkule make it look so easy....they can sit in the back and whenever they decide they want to go to the front, no matter how fast it is, they just go ahead and do it. Meanwhile I'm killing myself to stay in the group and look for whatever draft I can find, making an appearance at the front so I can do my fair share within my abilities. But I love doing it and I wouldn't have it any other way. About 2/3's the way down Linwood my right quad started cramping bad enough to make me lose the group, unable to catch back on. My computer was showing an average speed of 26.2 mph at the time! I finally rolled in about 1:11 after we started (I took it easy the last couple of miles) and I heard the leaders made it in only 57 minutes which I find hard to believe because that would mean they averaged about 30 mph for the route...I don't think they did if we were averaging 26.2 when I dropped off and we still had about 7 miles to go. But it doesn't matter...it was most likely the fastest the Linwood Loop had ever been ridden in my memory and I had had a blast doing it.