Monday, July 07, 2008

Group Road Ride

I think I was spoiled years ago when I lived in Shelby NC. I rode with a group of guys who pushed me, dropped me, and dragged me around the Cleveland County. When I moved to Asheville, I had high expectations of finding such a group to ride with. I have been on several group rides here in the past four years but have been consistently let down. Either the pace was too slow for my interest, there was too much stopping and waiting, or the people were just not fun to ride with. For instance, one time I got yelled at while rotating through the front of the paceline. The guy in front of me pulled off and surged. Wanting to contribute to the group and keep the paceline rolling smoothly, I pulled off and let off the gas just a hair, enough so that I would drift to the back of the line. As soon as I let up, some woman started yelling about me speeding up to close the gap!!!! What???

So, I gave up on group rides, got tired of getting stood trying to ride with individuals, and tired of having to conform to someone else's schedule. I ride alone a lot, and that works for me. But now, I am tired of 4-7 hours rides in the woods alone, and would like to hone my fitness. I went to the Liberty Bikes web-site and found that they have a Saturday morning group ride. I decided to try it out.

The Result? It was fun!! About 10 people, a nice 17.5 pace, we stopped to re-group several times but did not wait long for the folks to catch up. I wound up with 52 miles, went home and spent the rest of the weekend with my family. I'll be back to try that group ride again in two weeks.

Have a great day.

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