First outdoor ride of the year!

This weekend the weather finally warmed up enough so that I, the biggest cold weenie in the world, ventured out onto the roads. Having suffered enough on early Spring rides, I had learned my lesson...so, here I am (in the middle) safely clad in darn near every stitch of cycling clothing I own.

(l to r) Dave, Tiffany, Jen, Me, Kathy, Steve, Josh. Not pictured: Jessi and Roger

Roger took pity on me the first half of the ride by not pushing the pace on his sweet new ride, and I actually felt pretty good for the first hour. I have been tweaking with my position recently, in an effort to get more aero and hide my chest from the wind. My latest "tweak" actually turned out to be a major drop in my handlebars, and while on the trainer I "looked" really aero, I was curious to see what riding outside would feel like. It took some getting used to and some pushing through the discomfort in my arms/shoulders/neck, but all in all it wasn't too bad. Steve even said at one point that he could tell I looked better. But the first downhill while in this new aero was, uh, a bit scary and unstable. I was hanging on for dear life! After that little wake up call, I decided that I needed to pay more attention to my handling. I also spent some time playing games with myself to see how long I could stay down in aero, just to try and speed up the adjustment period. My 5 min goal was easily met, so then it was on to 10, 15, and then even 20! Yipee!

As we left Riverside, I knew the inevitable "drop" was coming, and somehow, being mentally prepared for it seemed to make it easier to take. I didn't get into a negative space when I did get dropped, I just put my head down and continued to ride my own ride. Felt pretty good! I also knew that we were going into a bit of a headwind and climbing somewhat, so I just tried to make it up to the turnaround.

After a brief CHOMPS stop at the turn, I set a silent goal to hang with the group no matter what until we hit Riverside. Once off, the hammer went down and we were flying! It was tough, but I made it into Riverside without losing a wheel, and it brought back all the awesome memories of pace-lining and working my butt off with my awesome training partners.

Leaving Riverside again, I let the group go and settled in for what I knew was going to be a long, hard hour-ish of solo suffering. I think I would have probably made it, but it definitely would not have been pretty or fun. Fortunately, Dave also decided to take pity on me and wait to ride in with me. We shared the work and pulled eachother in over the last 10 miles, which really would have sucked solo. So thanks to Dave! Fun ridin' with ya, and looking forward to the next time where we will stay on the wheels just a bit longer.

Came in feeling tired and ready to get outta the saddle, but overall, pretty darn happy with my effort. First ride outside and I got close to 47 miles! Nice!! I'll take that any day. Oh yeah, and while it did sprinkle a few times, the weather was pretty darn nice. And the roads were mostly clear, but SOMEHOW, all of my wheel-sucking resulted in a pretty muddy bike and Tim.


Not as bad as in the past, but still a look of "I was out doing some good, hard work"


Now THAT is some sweet mud!! No wonder I thought I felt like something was rubbing my tire! Ha ha ha ha!


My new "paint job" :)


That's what you get for sitting on!

Unfortunately I didn't finish my ride so far behind the group to allow them time enough to go out and do their transition run.....so, I was talked into a short run. Ugh. Just like old times, Steve dragged my slow butt through the first 2.5 miles before he decided he'd had enough of slow running and took off.

All in all, it was an awesome day. My first real brick in who knows how long. And, yes, I still remember how to ride a bike! Woo hoo!

So.......I decided I deserved a nice reward once I got home. Ahhhhhhh, a bit of my own concoction, in the IM glass, of course!