We all met at Mojo in Red Bank, Lance was predictably not there on-time, but strangely enough his bike was there (he was changing out a tire on someone else's bike. The other two (a couple) I had not met before, but judjing by the bike and the gear, I knew we weren't going slow on this ride. She had a custom bike, and he had a SEVEN, for those of you none-cyclist out there, these things aren't cheap. Corey showed up and the others and we were off. So let me paint the picture, everyone is there with all of their sharp bikes and winter riding gear, and I've got my mountain bike helmet, my hoodie sweatshirt I have had since middle-school, one black sock and one white sock, and quite possibly the cheapest pair of cycling shoes on the face of this earth. I think everyone else's sunglasses cost more than my entire outfit. Owell, I'm just here to have fun and make everyone else look good.
The ride to Signal was fun, we talked about last night's drinking and the new year and all of the races we were looking forward to. I have never climbed the W route up signal, but it is much talked about. I was predictably slow, but it was a fun route, there was a little ice up top, but nothing too scary. I thought I would overheat in my 3 layers of clothing but I didn't, and that should tell you how cold it was. The rollers on top of Signal are great training. You just have to grind them out no matter how good of cyclist you are. There is no fast way to do them. The ride down the backside was fun, as always. Corey was, as usual, the fastest hitting 42 mph, it would have been faster, but we were all COLD.
At the bottom, I pulled out a PBJ sandwich. Everyone was laughing, but at this point who am I kidding really? They all had their perpeteum. I'm not naming names, but these people are so serious they drink Recoverite after they mow the lawn.
About Perpeteum:
About Recoverite:
The ride through the Sequatchie Valley was the most disappointing. Usually it's a nice ride with no traffic and you can talk the whole time, while maintaing a nice training pace. This time we were greeting with 15+ mph headwinds. My stomach was really acting up. Evidently champagne & rum isn't what I should have been carbo-loading the day before. I was in good company though a fellow cyclist had a similar concoction of beer, whiskey, champagne, and then beer (in that order) from the night before so he was right there with me. I made it up Suck Creek mountain with one hand on my handle bars and one hand on my stomach. On the way down I my entire body was shaking so bad I was scared I was going to fall of the bike. It was pretty though seeing the ice on the side of the mountain.
So I'm sure while reading this you are glad you didn't participate in this ride, as it was one of the worst rides I've been on. However, hindsight 20/20 would I do it again - YOU BETCHA! Even though I had miserable stomach cramps, was freezing, and was completely out of shape and shouldn't be tackling two mountains and 60 miles, it was a lot better than staying inside and watching tv all day.
1 comment:
I love it - I loved the "no mo memphis" ride. Hilarious.
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