Bipolar Group Rides

Ride Stats

• Distance:55.71


• Time:3:07:35


• Avg. Speed17.9 mph


• Max. Speed46.7 mph


• Climbing:4590 ft


• Avg. HR:144 bpm


• Energy:2272 cal


• Dist 2007:868.7

61°

High: 67° Low: 57°

My IE

61°

High: 67° Low: 57°

Had an interesting group ride this past Sunday with what seems to be the group ride to join in the area. I had attempted to catch the ride a few weeks ago but had difficulty locating the meeting point. For some strange reason, the organizers decided the best spot to converge was at a local mall well outside of town flanked by only highways and dead end roads. Not to be doomed by the same portentous fate of weeks gone by I absolutely hammered the entire way to the commercial cornucopia. For the first time this year, my "medium-rare" pace was placed directly on the fire with my speed averaging around 26. After about 25 minutes I arrived at the mall and with several minutes to spare. One by one riders coasted up to the meeting spot and each new rider added diversity to the assemblage. A few older guys. A few young guys. A few hardcore racers. A few guys still riding their "winter" bikes. A few guys riding 100% carbon fiber "my bike costs more than your house" rigs. Some dressed like it was 35°F, a few dressed like it was 60°F. The only commonality was that we were all there for the ride and we all spoke Czech. Oh wait, maybe not all.

It was really slow at first and a drastic contrast to my effort to get to the mall. I had no idea where we were going but tried to do my part by taking turns in the rotation at the front. Previously on this ride I talked to 3 or 4 guys and had some great conversations (in English of course) :) This ride seemed to be less fluent but I don't like to talk too much while riding anyway. After an hour or so I realized that I really needed to relieve myself from the morning's coffee. I waited for several miles to find an inconspicuous spot where I would be sure not to loose site of the group (important since I didn't know where we were going and really didn't know where we were). My stop, however, coincided with an increase in the group's speed as I had to chase hard to regain contact.

The increase in pace also included an increase in hills which is much more enjoyable than flat roads in my opinion. A few rides peeled off for home as the group forged ahead. Suddenly I realized where we were! The only problem was that we had been riding for 2.5 hours and we were going AWAY from the city. Riding along my normal route was a nice change since I knew what to expect in terms of approaching hills. I was riding 3rd in line when we approached a fork in the road. The first two guys headed left saying something like "Na horu" (which I think means 'to the hills' or something), the 3 behind be headed right. I went with the first 2 guys since they were staying on my route and they seemed to be the best riders out of the group.

At this point my legs were feeling more like 2x4's with each pedal stroke and I still didn't know if they were going to do "the big hill" that I do on my regular route. It ascends about 900 feet with a 18% grade at one point. Luckily we turned away and headed back home. Since I didn't know the way home and my legs seemed to weigh as much as a Skoda (each) I didn't take any pulls at the front. I hope they didn't take offense but these were all new roads for me. We rolled into the city after a solid 70 miles. Thinking back on it, I think pushing my heart rate above 180 early in the ride filled my muscles with lactic acid that they are not used to dealing with. Par for the course when riding in the early season I suppose.