Group ride

I learned a few things Thursday night at the Simply Mac group ride.

First- When 4 or 5 guys from another bike shop show up to ride IT"S ON.
Second- One sandwich for Lunch is not enough 6 hours later.
Third- I can't ride at 35 mph
Fourth- I don't ride hard enough during the week to keep up when it's all out right from the start.
Fifth- Don't play flag football all day before doing the group ride.

However, the ride was still a good ride. After getting kick out the back four of us (Doug, myself and two other simple mac guys) took a shortcut and worked hard enough not to get caught. It was a good ride, but now I know that I'm not as young as I once was.

Get a Freakin' Life!

I thought about titling this "The series of my content" or "Grow up!" but decided on "Get a freakin' life" - seriously. Last week I did my first race of the year with the cat 3's. First, I noticed there were quite a few young bucks there trying to move up in the standings and this was just another race for them to drive down from Portland to get an easy win. One kid went off the front two laps in! On a 40 lap race! And he held it. We were moving pretty darn fast, with a head wind, and in the pouring rain. I was content with my 7th place finish in the first chase group. I felt good enough.

I have not been up to my usual par for racing this year. With 4 kids and a new job (for this year) I saw my intensity and focus shift, as well as my time. I am still getting in my riding, but not as long or hard. So this week I decided to hit the long, hard, fast group ride. There were about 30 guys there, so I knew I was in trouble. About a third of the way in I turned off with a group of 10 to do a shorter (75 mile) ride. They group was doing a 100+ miler, which would have made for a 130 day for me. As stated above, no time for that long. I felt good throughout. I never was going to pull away from anyone, but took off second up the main climb.

What I realized about cyclists after talking to a few people were: 1. you are young and work in a bike shop and ride your bike. 2. you did #1 when you were young, now you have 1 (maybe 2) kids and still relive the glory days. 3. Actually, I was the only three - 4 kids a full time job and a church calling. When I rolled in many guys said, "How are you? Haven't seen you ride the group ride for a few months!" My reply - "4 kids!" Didn't have to say much more.

One guy (the one who killed me up the hill) works in a bike shop and took a month off to go train in Arizona. Sorry. Reality check! You are not going to be a pro - get a job! I walked (barely and very tired) away knowing - I will never race as a cat 1, but don't care. I have a family and a job. I am feeling very content with where I am at in my riding, even if I am not pulling away from the local hero.

But it doesn't get better than this!

Dream come true

I have been wanting to ride from my house to the coast for a long time. The biggest trouble with the ride is how to get there. The main road, highway 126, has no shoulder and has a lot of traffic on it. I decided to take the longer route to avoid that road. I had never done the route before, so I was a little nervous being out in the middle of nowhere and being stuck or stranded. My friend was going to take some clothes for me in his car and I was meeting up with some guys in Florence for a "mancation" (guy vacation - quads on the dunes, Halo all night, and basketball - it was a lot of fun). I have to add they all thought I was crazy for attempting this.

The minute I got out I knew it was going to be a long ride because the wind was blowing in my face and I was not changing direction until I got there. For about 60 mile I rode old logging roads out in the middle of a dense forest. The wind and rough road made it a long ride, but the scenery definitely made up for it. For the last twenty-five miles I had to ride the 126. It wasn't as bad as I thought because they had redone the road and made the shoulder bigger. The only problem was the pummeling wind. There is nothing like going as hard as you can to look and see the speedometer say 14 mph. But I crept into Florence for a great time. It was well worth the effort. I even rode quads out on the dunes for the rest of the day.

This is the photo at the finish from the mancave (rented house by the ocean).


These are more photos of Doug and I riding while he was here. Rob, my buddy, joined us one day for our ride too.