Holy cow, riding in a cycling paceline is a blast! The rush of speed and of bodies working in harmony is exhilarating!
One of my friends at work and volleyball partner in crime recently started riding his bike again after a long, 10-ish year hiatus. He knew I rode to work regularly and wanted to get back into the sport again.
A few weeks ago one evening, I got a text from him, "Wanna ride at lunch? Bring your bike to work." The cooler fall weather and an opportunity to get out of the office for a while made this an easy choice. I loaded up my steed and couldn't wait to get out of a meeting to go play.
The first time out we rode around the lake, then headed over to the "rich" part of town near Love Field and just rode around the neighborhoods. He struggled to keep up and I enjoyed an easy pace. We did 10-ish miles in that hour and both came back grinning.
Last week, I had a meeting cancel so it was my turn to text him. He'd ridden a longer ride over the weekend and was tired, but jumped at the chance to again enjoy the crisp, fall lunchtime ride. As we went, I asked him if he'd want to go do a 44-miler that weekend in Bonham. He thought that if he could do this lunchtime ride and recover well, he would do it.
Sure enough, Friday he said he could go and wanted to give it a shot. This was my first road ride ever the year before and I made it through. He plays sand volleyball regularly and is in shape. There was no doubt in my mind he could make it through, maybe being a little tired at the end.
So Rick picked me up early on Saturday and we met up with his friend, Linda, on the way in McKinney. We raced to get registered and just start.
Rick was like a jackrabbit for the first 10-ish miles, and I silently wondered if he'd burn out at about 35 miles. I had a tough time keeping up with him, especially with all those hills early on. We decided to skip the first aid station and move on.
About 12 miles in, Rick spotted a guy with a "classic" bike; one that was about 20+ years old and struck up a conversation with him. Turns out Wayne, originally from South Africa, was here from China on business and some friends conned him into doing the ride. It was a great bike in its time, but a little old technology compared to today. He was enjoying himself despite the older frame and getting a good view of the Texas countryside.
After a while, we realized we were all pacing about the same and decided to try a paceline. Rick started us out, then Wayne pulled for a while. I stayed trailing. I noticed a shadow behind me and realized that someone else had jumped onto the train. He introduced himself (John maybe?) and chatting. Nice guy. Before long, we had several others. Through this point, we were averaging about 17-18mph
We decided to stop at the 2nd rest stop, just to get the butts out of the seats for a few minutes and grab some ice for the bottles. Four of us continued on the paceline and it started to get hilly. Just as we started to get into a small hill, dang Rick, who was up front at the time, piped up and asked everyone to raise hands to see if it was Kari's turn to pull. Well crap! I didn't think I could go fast enough for these guys, especially on hills, but what the heck. They all raised their hands in agreement.
We'd already started up the first small hill and I broke to get to the front. Turned out I sped up too much because Rick, who was behind me at that point, told me I'd dropped a couple of them. Ha! I slowed down a bit so they could catch up, then led the pace for a few miles. Fun! I didn't think I could do it, nor did I think I was fast enough for it. The guys were really encouraging.
We continued swapping out spots until about the 33 mile mark and averaged about 18-19 the rest of hte way. An extremely nasty car accident split us all up. Rick and I stopped to help initially; the other two stopped for a few minutes then went on. I won't go into the details, but it was bloody and required 3 medical helicopters to come take some of the vicitms away. There hasn't been a news link to see what happened to them.
On a brighter note, I'm so freakin' hooked on pacelines now! Wow! Fun stuff. It makes me think I might be able to move up into the next group in the Corinth bike riders. Whee!!
One of my friends at work and volleyball partner in crime recently started riding his bike again after a long, 10-ish year hiatus. He knew I rode to work regularly and wanted to get back into the sport again.
A few weeks ago one evening, I got a text from him, "Wanna ride at lunch? Bring your bike to work." The cooler fall weather and an opportunity to get out of the office for a while made this an easy choice. I loaded up my steed and couldn't wait to get out of a meeting to go play.
The first time out we rode around the lake, then headed over to the "rich" part of town near Love Field and just rode around the neighborhoods. He struggled to keep up and I enjoyed an easy pace. We did 10-ish miles in that hour and both came back grinning.
Last week, I had a meeting cancel so it was my turn to text him. He'd ridden a longer ride over the weekend and was tired, but jumped at the chance to again enjoy the crisp, fall lunchtime ride. As we went, I asked him if he'd want to go do a 44-miler that weekend in Bonham. He thought that if he could do this lunchtime ride and recover well, he would do it.
Sure enough, Friday he said he could go and wanted to give it a shot. This was my first road ride ever the year before and I made it through. He plays sand volleyball regularly and is in shape. There was no doubt in my mind he could make it through, maybe being a little tired at the end.
So Rick picked me up early on Saturday and we met up with his friend, Linda, on the way in McKinney. We raced to get registered and just start.
Rick was like a jackrabbit for the first 10-ish miles, and I silently wondered if he'd burn out at about 35 miles. I had a tough time keeping up with him, especially with all those hills early on. We decided to skip the first aid station and move on.
About 12 miles in, Rick spotted a guy with a "classic" bike; one that was about 20+ years old and struck up a conversation with him. Turns out Wayne, originally from South Africa, was here from China on business and some friends conned him into doing the ride. It was a great bike in its time, but a little old technology compared to today. He was enjoying himself despite the older frame and getting a good view of the Texas countryside.
After a while, we realized we were all pacing about the same and decided to try a paceline. Rick started us out, then Wayne pulled for a while. I stayed trailing. I noticed a shadow behind me and realized that someone else had jumped onto the train. He introduced himself (John maybe?) and chatting. Nice guy. Before long, we had several others. Through this point, we were averaging about 17-18mph
We decided to stop at the 2nd rest stop, just to get the butts out of the seats for a few minutes and grab some ice for the bottles. Four of us continued on the paceline and it started to get hilly. Just as we started to get into a small hill, dang Rick, who was up front at the time, piped up and asked everyone to raise hands to see if it was Kari's turn to pull. Well crap! I didn't think I could go fast enough for these guys, especially on hills, but what the heck. They all raised their hands in agreement.
We'd already started up the first small hill and I broke to get to the front. Turned out I sped up too much because Rick, who was behind me at that point, told me I'd dropped a couple of them. Ha! I slowed down a bit so they could catch up, then led the pace for a few miles. Fun! I didn't think I could do it, nor did I think I was fast enough for it. The guys were really encouraging.
We continued swapping out spots until about the 33 mile mark and averaged about 18-19 the rest of hte way. An extremely nasty car accident split us all up. Rick and I stopped to help initially; the other two stopped for a few minutes then went on. I won't go into the details, but it was bloody and required 3 medical helicopters to come take some of the vicitms away. There hasn't been a news link to see what happened to them.
On a brighter note, I'm so freakin' hooked on pacelines now! Wow! Fun stuff. It makes me think I might be able to move up into the next group in the Corinth bike riders. Whee!!
1 comment:
Girl, I'm jealous!!! I have to get used to that. Of course, I have to get faster on the dang bike first.
Sounds like a blast!!
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