First Group Ride: Class B

George Bush and Lance Armstrong

Trip Dist: 26.58 mi
Trip Time: 1 hr 18 min 40 sec
Avg Speed: 20.28 mph
Max Speed: 40.68 mph

Total Odo: 597 mi
Total Time: 44 hrs 36 min

Weather: Partly Cloudy, medium-light wind, about 80 (late ride, progressively cooled down)

Health: I've been resting my legs every other day recently, so all of my rides have been healthy. I've been drinking about 80-100 oz of water daily, and eating very healthy as well. I felt strong to start, towards the end I was a bit fatigued.

Route: From Scott's Bicycle center, down Georgetown, across 25, through many back roads (not really positive where we were), and back.

Since early July, I've been riding by myself. I rode with a friend once, forcing myself to push harder. Yesterday was my first group ride. Overall, it was extremely awesome. It gave me an inside look into American cycling "culture." The hand signals, gestures, subtle communication, and the way the bikes spoke to each other with their movements were interesting. I found my self soaking it all in, praising God for a new experience in a setting I had never been in. I always love learning something new. Those of you who have know me for years, know that when I learn something new, I tend to become haunted by the thought that I haven't mastered it yet: so I fight to be the best.

It was a funny setting to begin with as I rolled in with my small truck, dwarfed by brand new shining Fords, Toyotas and the likes with their shining trek and specialized bikes in the back. Tight spandex, jerseys, and Giro helmets were flowing. I wheeled over the DX to two other guys waiting for the B group. As I wheeled it over, the one guy says, "Ah, the ole' steely." That's right, the old steely; glistening in the 6pm sun. I was the only guy with steele, toe clips, soccer shoes, and a Liverpool soccer jersey. I didn't look that out of place, but it was as if I rode in from 1984. I loved it, and was so proud to ride pop's bike with the MEN.

I wheeled across the road and met some other older guys with their flowing carbon fiber, polarized sunglasses, and brand new EVERYTHING else. They were really nice, most Christian actually. The one guy, sadly I forgot his name, asked for my e-mail address so I could jump in with him and some other guys for a smaller ride more frequently. Basically, everything I had prayed for happened. It was an all around blessing and physical explosion.

So I was the youngest guy there along with the late 20s, 30s, 40s, and maybe even 50s. The A group quickly took off. They ride in the low to mid 20s on average. I heard that one of the guys in that group used to ride semi-pro. So basically, I placed in cycling heaven. It was great.
As we rode off, we stayed together and took a few stops along the way to make sure the full group was together.

Side note; I finally looked up Lance Armstrong's height, he's exacytly my height (5'10"). Ha, you don't need to be a hulking human to rule the world of European cycling. Also, I kept saying to my self as I was 4th in line of about 11 bikes, "This is awesome, this is awesome!" Drafting was really cool at about 30-35 mph, it sucks you along so you only have to do 5 pedals, rest, then continue on and off. We went down a crazy steep, windy road that cut through the woods. That's where I went 40, my highest speed to date. It was insane, 60mph in the Tour must be horrifying.

It was really neat learning the different signals, vocal cues, and simple movements to let the other bikers know what's coming up. Since we were all drafting in a single file line, we couldn't see if there was a pot hole, or gravel, or a car approaching. If a car was coming at us, the leader would yell "Car up!," and that would be passed down the line all the way to the back. If a car was behind, the last guy would yell, "Car back!," and send that up to the front. Turns required the standard biking arm signals. If there was gravel in the road, the leader would stick out a few fingers, point them to his side, and shake his hand towards the road. This was sent down, cuing us to move over to the left. It was neat, a lot of trust goes into cycling when you're drafting about an inch behind someone's tire at 35mph. PURE BLISS.

We stopped for the second and last time for a bit, then took off up a medium-steep hill, but it was pretty long. I passed the guy who took down my e-mail address and figured I would enter the European world. As I got out of the saddle to conquer the kill as fast as I could I blurted, "Bounjour!" He said something something in another language, but I couldn't understand it, but it was quite funny. I laughed as my calves nearly exploded scaling the MOUNTAIN, more like small hill. As I passed guys riding up the hill, the same guy I said french to yells out, "Not too steep for ROCCO!" I felt like a champion. From that point forward we didn't stop. We had basically hit the halfway point, took a road to loop around, and headed back to our initial route going backwards.

The stragglers formed a group in back and I went ahead with about 6 other men. The way back was full on pedal cranking. We formed a small group of three as the other three rode ahead. This was where the steel, grime, and wide tires hurt me. I worked hard all the way home to stay with this middle group. My legs would go in and out of full on Burn, but it felt good. Group rides push you to ride so hard; it's like having my soccer coach Mr. Dempsey pushing me harder than I've ever been pushed physically during pre-season.

I kind of fell behind from the other two guys in and out, but caught up. It was really good, really good. Great guys, a lot of new guys actually. Of course they started with full on carbon, Giro helmets, Motorolla jerseys, carbon shoes, expensive computers, and bicycle lights. I've never been one to start with the best, I always worked my way up. I will get a new bicycle when I "deserve" one. I am a beginner, someday I will deserve a Trek.

As we pulled into the parking lot at Scott's, the guy I rode home with, Glen, said goodbye. The last thing he said was, "You've got a sweet old bike!" YES, the Panasonic lives on, riding with the champs.

Overall, It was a major blessing and intense physical workout. I came home to Mike finally relaxing and playing Wii Golf (he thought he had a justified break, yet he forgot to do his German, hahahah) and I told him everything. I proceeded to rip through pasta, fruit, water, cookies, anything I could get my hands on. Food consumption = FULL ON.

I hope you guys enjoy reading this, It's a lot of fun to reflect on my cycling. Someday I'll be able to look back on this and see how far I've come. It became evident to me that you can be an old man and smoke a young, beginner cyclist. It happened to me during the ride, so I have a lot to learn and much conditioning to do. Praise God for exercise and this cycling group.


Found These Babies On the Side of The Road