Thursday Night Group Ride

I went out last night with the Bike World Thursday night group ride. I’m not much of a roadie, but I’m trying to learn. I’ve read that if you want to get faster on a mountain bike, ride with roadies. It was a good group, with 10-12 guys. The CICC guys were there, along Belgium Paul, and a couple of guys I didn’t know. Belgium Paul (BP) just got back from Belgium (hence the name) where he was racing with the U23 program, and had some great stories to tell. That guy has some serious speed.

We headed towards Nevada on Lincoln way, and then turned north. It was a fast pace, averaging 23-25 mph into the wind, and then we turned west towards Roland. As we were approaching Roland, I expected the usual “Stop Ahead” sign Sprint, so when Mel broke out, I jumped on his wheel. Nobody else was close, so when Mel slowed a little bit, I jumped. I then realized why Mel had slowed down. We had been sprinting for a teeter-totter sign. BP says you get points taken away for sprinting to the wrong kind of sign. I stayed off the front until the real Stop Ahead sign, and then waiting for the pack at the Casey’s. Because of that effort, I got dropped going up the Skunk River hill, but one of the guys was nice enough to come back and pull me back on.

Turning south on the county line road we averaged an incredible 30-32 mph, with BP leading a single line much of the way. Damn, that guy is fast. It was pretty to watch from the back.

Ride Stats:
55.1 miles
22.0 mph average speed
2.5 hours on the bike

Steve let me have the Madone today. Sweet! I’ll put pictures of it and the new Team 14 kit up later.