Thursday night ride

Good to see Baker and Mark holding down the ride Thursday nights from All About Bikes. 17 people showed up and I had a blast! Thankfully the lights charged up and worked good. I'll be back for this ride more now that the weather should be a little milder.

Heaven and Hell

Base miles is what I need! Riding the trainer and going to the gym are great in the winter months, but there is no substitute for a good fitness base. Not ready to turn up the intensity too much too soon, Gregory and I decide to do a easy but longer ride. Turns out its hard to do a easy ride when the wind is blowing 20 mph!
Leaving the house around 9:15 the temperature was already around 50. It was not long before the arm warmers and knee warmers had to come off. Some how Greg rode with his arm and knee warmers on all day, what a freak! We decided to go see the cows. Winding our way around Saint Brides Prison, then past Northwest River Park, we were able to catch a tailwind a lot of the way. I called these "free miles" when it seemed like there was no wind, but 25 mph was effortless. This was the "heaven" part of the ride. Knowing there would be hell to pay on the way back, we headed to Creeds. Homie Greg pulled up the Pungo Ferry Bridge at 20 mph. What a freak! Pulled into the store at Creeds for some Gatorade and a Powerbar. Greg comes out with a Snickers, 2 Slim Jim's, and a Coke! What a freak! Not staying long, we head back for the bridge. Freaky Greg drops me really hard on the bridge, and I work hard to catch back up. This the real start to the head winds. "The wind is my friend!" Super-Rick is fond of saying.
It seems as though we have mostly head and cross winds on the way back. Take it easy base miles was the theme, but you have to work in those winds. Any less effort and we would have been going backwards. Finally pull in the driveway with 55 miles in 3 hours ride time.
The ride was layed back and fun. We talked, and joked, and enjoyed ourselves. Riding with 1 other person is alot different than a big group. Its alot easier to hide from the wind in a big pack, and you might not pull at all. Today, we tried to split the pulls up 50/50.

Waller Mill Meltdown

55 miles of rolling hills in Williamsburg. Most of the JRVS/Casey Auto team lives on the peninsula and regularly do this ride from the Waller Mill parking lot. Looking for a change of pace, Greg and I head up Sunday morning. Rick, Steve, Dave and maybe 10 others show before 9 am. "Super-Rick" tries to find a phone booth to change into his "Super-Kit", but settles for the bathrooms. After emerging in his white gloves, we rolled out. Picking up another 6 or so people in the first few miles, we made a good sized pack of about 20.
We on the southside, although cursed with flat land, are definitely blessed with well paved roads. W'burg has hills, but the road surfaces leave much to be desired. I see now how spoiled I am with the riding in southern Chesapeake and Va. Bch. We have good roads here for the most part.
Being my first ride in W'burg on a roadbike, I was a little concerned how I would handle the hilly terrain. Turns out its not that much harder than flatland. In the flats you pedal constantly, because there are no hills to coast down, no recovery. The hills are harder to climb, but you can coast down the other side and recover!
I hung with the pack for the first 30 miles, rotating up and taking a pull, I felt good. Did I mention the wind was blowing 30 mph.? The pack hit a stretch of open fields and a crosswind started to split us up. I let a gap open and I was done. Greg waited for me and we pulled out the map. Did I mention we didn't know where we were? We traded pulls back in, consulting the map a few times.
It was different and alot of fun. Next time staying with the pack will be a priority. Not wanting to blow myself up actually made it worse by working harder out by myself. Lesson learned. When we going back?