Mid-Week Rides, Ad Libitum

Tuesday (click for Garmin file)

The clock struck 5:45 p.m., and I knew I had missed my chance to leave the office for the group rides (Wakefield or my team's ride from Spokes).

On Monday night, though, my favorite vegan+straight-edge teammate Chris Cee had left me a message about riding at Hains Tuesday. I sent him a message after work, and he was already at the Point. Game on.

I did not have any plan but to ride, so I shadowed the second half of his workout. We did a bunch of 30-second and 15-second sprints (which I treated as spin-ups). He headed home while I still had some energy to burn, so I just set my body into a hard tempo mode. I found the groove and decided I would do 20 minutes.

Yeah, it turned into a backwards workout.

At about 19 minutes I see an NCVC jersey well up the road. It was a good carrot in front of this donkey, especially near the end of a long interval. Screw the clock, let's catch him. Little did I know that it was a Cat 2 teammate doing a few 1-minute "openers" at the exact moment to cause my legs' demise.

Well, at about 22 minutes I finally caught up to Rob S. and we rolled at an easy tempo and chatted a bit about bikes, races, upgrades, and whatever else a pair of bike racers should chat about. Good times.

I don't know what I'm doing tonight, but that's alright
I don't know what I'm doing with my life, but that's fine...
...Feel like I can learn a lot if I openup my eyes,
But I'm just fine...
~O.A.R. "Tonight"

I had no specific intentions when I clipped into my pedals, but sometimes, it feels good to just get on the bike and go. If anything it will fight the angst and clear your mind from the minutia of daily life. Just one reason I ride.


Wednesday (click for Garmin file)

On Wednesday evening I met up with a few GW Cycling and NCVC pals for the return of the GW Cycling "night ride." Of course, a ride on a college campus during the end of finals week is not going to fetch many pals, but that was okay.

Jason H., Rich H., Schlomo and I headed down to Hains at dusk. A single hour's worth of respite from the rain is all we had and all we needed. We naturally settled into a perfect single paceline, each of us contributing what was necessary without hitting the red too soon. It was an efficient workout, so we rolled with it.

We did six laps, each gradually increasing in tempo with only stop signs to hinder our cyclical progress. The gradually darkening sky magnified the fatigue of legs, the emptiness of lungs, and insecurity of minds. By the last two laps, even with lights it was hard to tell where a front tire meets a rear.

In any group of cyclists, you need to trust the guys around you. At a hot tempo, the desperation for respite from wind overcomes fear. Wherever that next wheel is, you will not let it meander more than inches the road.

Last night I was riding with three guys - each of whom I have probably ridden at least a thousand miles with. The insecurity was hardly an issue.

More than a normal ride, the darkness requires an unquestioned trust in the riders around you. Between the painfully imposed silence caused by heavy breathing, there is an underlying dependence in the pair of legs leading yours: that his actions are exact and his legs have the will to continue when yours will not.

Four teammates in a perfect, painful rotation at the desolate urban velodrome that is Hains Point at night. Just another reason I ride.