Apr 12 2010
It’s Good to Go Over Old Routes
Sunday morning was an opportunity to hit a tried and true, well-worn route with my original riding group. Seems we don’t this sort of thing very often anymore, but the weather was very fine and the planets aligned for a group of about 15 or so to show up. The route is a simple 13 miles out and back, with a few rollers, a bit of an elevation gain east to west, and wind usually in your face going out. Of course, that makes the return fun with a generally downward slope (still plenty of rollers) and some tail wind. This was a staple of my early cycling. I learned a lot about cycling on this specific route.
It’s really nice to ride a known route with familiar faces (especially after a long-ish break from doing so) because it helps you determine how much progress you’ve made. It’s been well over a year since I rode this route with or without this bunch of folks. We start nicely (we always do)…a little warming up in the 14/15mph range for a mile or so…sort of keeping the group together. But, then, things begin to happen….we stretch out in single file because of traffic….we pick up the pace….and the next thing you know a small race has begun. One guy (who used to drop me like a bad habit) and I got out front by mile 3 and it was game on from there on out. We hit the 13 mile turn around point a good 5 minutes ahead of the next small group of guys after averaging about 20 mph. After a short break, I started up again to see what was going on with the slower riders that were still coming in.
I met them about a mile down the road and opted to just keep going, instead of turning back to the rally point. I really was just cruising along, waiting for the other guys to catch up with me, but after 3 or 4 miles of that decided to just crank it up. Those first few return miles were at about a 16 mph average. The last or 9 were at a 23 mph average. The whole ride finished up at about 19 mph. By far, the best ever for me on that route.
Progress over the years. That ride used to be a definite 2 hour trip…complete with bonking, soreness, blah blah blah. Now I can ride to the ride, ride the ride, and ride back from the ride. Or just do the ride, reasonably fast, and get breakfast at the little cafe next door. Much better!
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