2007 Bike Ride #10: TdC Group Training Ride

[wickedwords]

Ride Length: 27 miles (more or less)
Elevation: 200 ft (more or less)
Where: Home to meet up, then Lake Sammamish Trail
Start Time: 10:00-something
How long: 2.45 hrs by watch, 2.21 hrs on-bike time. (a little over 11mph, not including stops)
Heart Rate: 122 avg, 159 peak
Total Calories: 2030

The Tour de Cure is two weeks away, so I decided to go to the sponsored group ride today to, ah, see how well I was doing compared to other riders. What I learned was that I really, really, really like riding with sherrold and her partner, as we saunter our way through the rides. I was very intimidated at the meet up--the pre-teen boy in his STP jersey was just a part of it--and so when one of the women there said that she didn't want to ride anyplace with a lot of traffic, I jumped at the chance to ride with her on the Lake Sammamish trail.

She claimed to be slow and leisurely, but I know from leisurely. Coming back, when she was leading, we were hitting 16 mph at times--and it's flat, so there's no downhill. I was able to keep up no problem, but I did have to work a lot harder than I am used to working. But it was fun, and I did it, and while technically, I should do about another 13 miles today to keep up the schedule, chances are slim that I will get to that today. I think I earned the 'free burrito' that I got at the tour's end.

Comments

[sherrold.livejournal.com]

Congrats, honey -- I'm very impressed at your time, not to mention just being strong enough to go try a group ride by yourself!

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

I did enjoy riding with Helen, even though it was a lot faster paced than I'm used to. She's with a group, and has been on the fringes of the cycling community for a few years. She had a bad spill last year (moving from toe clips to clipless peddles, end result: 1) she and I were the only people with toe clips at the gathering 2) she hadn't had her bike out yet this year, which is part of why she didn't want to ride in traffic or at a hard pace and 3) she mentioned a couple of times that she's talked with other riders, and she thinks the whole clipless thing was a mistake for her, "Never let anyone tell you you have to go clipless.)

She also recommended the thursday night gasworks meet-up leisurely paced rides that start in June: "the ride leader is great, he makes sure everyone sticks together, it's all on flatter back streets--okay, sometimes there's the back way up queen anne, but its not bad-- and after, you have dinner together." Sounded like fun to me, so I may give it a whirl.

She's also doing the danskin challenge (I think this is a triathlon, but you'd know that better than I would) and is more focused on training for that than on cycling right now. The bike she was using was new for her, and it shaved a seven minutes off her danskin time. ("Those were an expensive seven minutes.")

I did come away from the thing a little depressed about the STP. I would say I am not in shape for it as I can't maintain the speeds required. I also am just intimidated about the whole gear thing at the moment--wrong bike, too much stuff, etc-- but I will get over that. I would love to plan a long bike trip with you guys, but I'm thinking I will need the summer to really get in shape for it. I should probably put my bike on the trainer and get an hour's ride in today after the play. There might even be a 30% chance that I will actually do that. *g*