Ride to the Capitol

Today was the Ride to the Capitol to let legislators know that cycling is an alternative mode of trasnportation worthy of more funding. We all met at Epic Bikes in McDonough. There were about 30 of us doing the ride. We left the shop with a police escort. We had one patrol car in the lead, one following, & 2 motorcycle officers blocking the intersections for us. We had one lane of Jonesboro Rd all to ourselves. That was probably the coolest thing I've ever had done for me while riding my bike. I know what the pros feel like when they get it done for them. We met the McDonough mayor at city hall & he rode with us for about a mile. He then got into a vehicle & rode in it until we arrived at the Marta station. The route was nothing but rollers with a few good climbs. We pretty much rode together the way to the capitol. We had one rider who kept getting flats till he changed wheels. The only other incident we had was one rider was trying to help another up the hill & lost his balance & fell. Everything turned out alright & we made it to the capitol, hooking up with another group from different parts of the city. We listened to the speakers, ate lunch & then got ready to head back. We started back towards the Marta station, & Mike was feeling really froggy. It was a sprint fest between each set of stoplights. My legs were hurting seeing as they weren't warmed up that much at the time. We were doing about 27 mph trying to catch up to him. We got to the station & decided what the plan going back would be. It was if you couldn't hang with the fast group, the truck was there to pick you up if needed. We headed out back to the shop & the pace was much faster than on the way there. I tried keeping up with Mike & was doing good until he decided to let the group go by & catch up from behind. I caught the back of the group, but by then Mike was off the front with another rider. We all grouped together & tried to catch him, with not much luck. We just settled into a good rhythym & rode on our own. We made it back to the shop & we really had a good ride. It was a good time & great company.

Tour de Cure

I know it's been over a month since my last post & I should be servely beaten with a wet noodle for being so lazy. This past Sunday was the Tour de Cure ride near Atlanta for the American Diabetes Association. The weather was absolutely perfect for the ride. The temperature was a bit cool at the start of the ride, but it warmed up & was very comfortable the entire ride. There really wasn't much wind to speak of & the sun was out the entire ride. The ride started out great, I was with a group of about 10 riders & we had a nice paceline going for about the first 10 miles of the ride, then the route started to get a bit more hilly & then they decided to pick up the pace, not wanting to blow up so early in the ride, I decided to let them go & ride my own pace. I rode with another rider the rest of the ride. We had a great average speed going & it was looking good to break the 3 hour mark for the 100k ride. At a bit after the 2 hour mark into the ride, my back really started to give me problems, I kept having to stretch it out on the bike & make more rest stops to stretch than I really wanted to. I didn't break the 3 hour mark, but I did manage the 100k route in 3:07:08 with an average speed of 19.56 mph. I just have the feeling that if my back didn't hurt, I might have been able to break the 3 hour mark, but there is always next year to look forward to. We'll just have to see how things go.