Well, what more do I need to say? I left home to ride out to samford for the start of the ride at 5.30am this morning. My Garmin wouldn't initialise and so I had to leave it off for the trek out. Having said that when I got home I had 83km on the clock with an average speed of 28km/hour. Thats bloody quick!
I managed to hold on to the group for the journey out to Dayboro where the group split in two with some deciding to take an alternate route. I even managed to hang in there as the group was reaching the turnaround point at the 38km mark. I wasn't last as we got back to Dayboro and I was feeling pretty good. Hmmm, this road riding thing aint so bad. That my friends is where the whole thing came crashing down and I began my descent into the pits of hell.
About 4km out of Dayboro I was losing contact with the group. In road riding terms thats a bad thing. You can get dragged along when you are in a big group and avoid some of the head winds as well as have the moral support of the other riders around you. One of the guys dropped back and helped me regain the group but no sooner had I got back than I started to slide back again. Man these guys were flying! After that its a slow painful death as you watch the peloton cruise out of sight not having the legs to catch them and realise you need to battle the head wind and drag your sorry butt up the hills. Alone.
Oh well. What are you gonna do? I'm not racing for sheep stations, or for a living, I'm not even racing. So I stuck the head phones on and got down to business of making it back to Samford where a strong coffe and a bakery treat would revitalise me for the short climb back to home. The coffee was great as was the chocolate milk and cream donut. After that its just harden up buttercup and get on with it.
When I got home I sat in a garden chair and turned the hose on myself. That is how to end a ride on a hot day! I should mention that thr group this morning was the Samford Velos. A really nice bunch of people. In the group I was in I was probably the youngest person and they still tore me apart. It gives me a good feeling to know that I can keep riding at a really good level for quite a few years yet and iam not the least bit embarrassed about watching them pull off into the distance.......
Where do you find a cyclist with no legs? Where you left him!
ReplyDeleteI almost went back to help him when we dropped him out of Dayboro but I decided he needed some alone time to get that mental strength up. You can a lot about yourself when you are alone with no one to help. :)
ReplyDeleteSteve