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July 1, 2006
Hammered
Today at Trizilla's team ride I got hammered. Hammered up one side and hammered down the other. Oh, and then hammered some more. Holy cow. Those guys ride. And they ride hard!
The rides start at 9 so I show up at the store around 8:45 all ready to go and excited. Then I realized I forgot my Gatorade and water bottle. Not good. I tell K and she gives me one of hers. A very nice thing to do considering we both should have had at least 2 bottles with us.
Now I should have known that this wasn't going to be a leisurely ride and indeed I did surmise that it would be hard. Afterall, K and I were riding with about 10-15 other MEN, almost all of whom are pure cyclists (read not triathletes and therefore cycle ALL THE TIME) and all of whom are at least relatively competitive (they also all ride in the crits). Of course it was going to be hard and we weren't going to always be able to keep up with them. But dang, I couldn't have imagined how hard it would be.
We started off and I thought, okay, this isn't so bad. But once we got to the main road where we were riding the "real" ride started and I knew I was going to be in for a long day. Funny enough we were riding in the area where O and I used to live before we bought our house and so I knew what was coming and there were times when I was thinking "oh God no - we have to go up that hill?!?!" :)
But I survived. Kim and I didn't keep up all the time but they all regroup every once in a while and we'd find them again and one of the guys was nice enough to stay back with us at the end. Towards the end I couldn't wait to be done. My quads are never going to be the same. I just can't get over how fast those guys go! And they make it look easy. Altogether I rode 40 miles and let me tell you - without a doubt - those were the 40 fastest miles of my life.
There was another crash today also. It was towards the beginning of our ride and I was actually riding alongside the guy that went down. He got too close to the wheel in front of him and lost control of his bike and of course he was right in the middle of the pack so everyone around him and in back of him got thrown off their groove. I managed to stay upright and on my bike (merely by luck) but everyone wasn't so lucky. Nobody was seriously hurt, just lots of road rash and some bungled up bikes. I seriously have to stop witnessing crashes because they scare me and do not make for a happy Beth! I noticed as I got more and more tired on the ride my bike handling skills were starting to diminish. Kind of like when you do a really long run and all you can think about is putting one foot in front of the other, all other brain function ceases. Trouble is, on a bike there is a lot more risk. Gotta be careful of that!
So yeah - I will definitely keep coming to the group rides. I know they will make me much stronger of a rider than I am now. Each time I go my goal will be for K and I to stay up with them just a little longer, or hammer up that hill just a little faster or ride the flats with a little more power. It's been a long time since I was the one holding up the group and EVERYONE was better than me. It's a hard position to be in, but at the same time, it's a great position because there is only one way to go. :)
Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!
Posted by beth at July 1, 2006 4:33 PM