Tuesday

I skipped this morning's ride on the parkway...the legs felt a little heavy and if I'm going to do a road race in Tyler, Texas this Saturday, well, I don't want to fatique them too much. I haven't done enough riding the last two weeks as it is. It should be "fun" with a monster hill (monster for East Texas) that'll I'll have to climb twice on two laps of the course with the 45-49 and 50-54 Masters. These old guys are no slouches and I'm just hoping I can hang on for most of the race. I'll have teammates in Brian and Don there but I think they'll do fine.

Last night was the weekly Tuesday Night Worlds. I spent most of the afternoon working in the front yard in the heat so I was a little zapped. I wasn't expecting to hang on even in the early part of the ride. There was a fairly strong headwind out of the south that should slow the pack somewhat but I was suspecting that it would help me keep up. Russ rolled up to me barely a mile out the church parking lot and asked how the marriage was going. I told him it was going pretty good and that I wasn't having to make many adjustments because I wanted change in my life and was willing to adapt to that change. It hasn't been as hard as I thought it might be. Then I told him that I wasn't planning to stay with the group because of the earlier yardwork out in the sun and that my energy was low. He said to stay in the back, draft, and try to hang on. I know he means it....he wants me to hang in there as long as I can.

As it turned out, the opening 12 miles to Frierson were easier for me than I could have imagined. It was easy to keep up, even going 27-28 mph into the headwind on Ellerbe Road. I sat in the back for a while just in case I had any problems, riding alongside T-Bone watching the rotation in front of us. It was a big group, maybe 25 riders (more?), and we touched 30 mph several times. There were a couple of jumps off the front but we reeled them back in. The whole process was quite smooth and, though there were some bold moves, nobody was doing anything dumb. After we turned onto Highway 175 to Frierson, the pace kept up as it usually does and I decided it was time to make some appearances at the front. I made one pull up the first rise on a set of rollers pretty effortlessly...other rides I have a tougher time on this section. Later, we were flying up the last rise before the village and I sat behind T-Bone as we zoomed at 30+ down the other side. This is not a steep decent, you have to work to go 30 mph. As we got to the "bottom" he pulled aside to let me through and I kept the pace up. Then I decided to up the pace to give everyone a minor workout (a VERY minor workout), standing up in the pedals for about 150 meters to keep the speed above 30. I took a quick look behind me and nobody was coming up on my right as I expected...they were all behind me, looking for the moment to make a jump to the Frierson train tracks. I swung to the right and tapped the brakes to force the group to pass me, and they did for the big sprint to the tracks. I was able to hang in to the tail of the group, surprised that we had dropped or lost almost a third of the original pack.

But about a mile on the other side of Frierson, I began to feel the effects of the earlier yard work I did and I didn't have the energy I needed to keep up with these boys. I turned around and headed back the way we came with the idea that I'd catch up to Jonnene's group ride and return back with them at an easier pace. As it turned out, her group is not exactly on the slow side! While I was with them the pace was often in the 21-24 mph range, sometimes faster, and that was much quicker than I thought it would be. It was fun, though, and I passed out some advice to a few riders to help them maximize their speed with less effort. I was proud of the way Jonnene didn't back down from any challenges in the ride and was more than willing to do the work and keep up the pace.

Today I need to get a rendering done for a window display, put together the material I need to send to USA Cycling of the results of the time trial last week, and maybe do a light workout on my time trial bike. Add in a few other things and it should be a full day.