Carbon Bling and OTB Joe.

Forgive me father, for it has been weeks since my last confession...

Group rides can be funny things.  Every town has their Tues. Night World Championships, the Wed morning slug fest, or the weekend Death Rides.  Growing up, Brian and I would attend these rides religiously as part of our training.  We had the Sprints at Southpark or the Tampa Crit on Tues.  The San Antonio pro ride on Wed. mornings and the UCF throwdown on Thurs. nights. The weekends were split between Winter Park on Sat. mornings and the Windemere Death Ride on Sundays, or for some real pain, the USF group ride followed by the Tampa Telecom Crit on Sunday afternoon. These were great times, and a great way to test yourself and your form against your peers.  You got an up close and personal look at who was going well and who was not; important information for the next weeks races.

Being my last week of base training I decided to attended my first group ride over in Jackson to see how things were going.  On the fitness side of things, I am still lacking.  When the pace really ratcheted up...I was OTB Joe.  After being shelled like a spent cartridge, I hooked up with another dude in my same position, and traded pulls all the way home.  I felt pretty good for all intents and purposes, just really lack any kind of leg speed.  This makes sense considering I have only really be working on strength for the past few weeks.

I did make some other observations during the evening.

1.  Since when did everyone ride there race wheels at a group ride.  Back in the day, you wouldn't be caught dead riding your nice wheels in training, people would make fun of you.

2.  Since when does everyone sprint out of the parking lot.  Again, back in the day, you took it easy for the first 10K.  You allowed the late comers to catch up, caught up with your buds, and let your legs loosen up a bit before the flogging.

3.  I actually remember how to ride in the group (while I was in the group).  I remembered the little signs, felt the ebb and flow, and generally just felt like a fish in water.  This was probably the best part of the whole evening.  Thankfully, I haven't lost the skills I once had, only the fitness.

See you cats on the flip side, got a rest week coming.