with the little dogs....
I got an invite to join a friend and some of his riding buds for a 'chill' 60+ mile road ride over towards Sisters and back to Bend. I eagerly accepted and joined the boys at 11:00. We started off easily enough cruising in the Sisters direction via back roads where there was either little traffic or nice wide shoulders.
At one point we hit the main 2 lane highway that connects Sisters to Bend and the boys laid down the hammer a little to get off that road relatively quickly. I barely hung on by a thread and was rather relieved when we turned off the road and the pace slowed down. It was becoming pretty evident that their 'chill' pace was not my 'chill' pace. We did some great loops as we wound our way to Sisters and then ended up in Sisters where there was a quick stop at the bakery where we dug into our jersey's and fueled up.
Soon enough we were back on the road and snaked our way back until we were once again forced to hit the main road where traffic was heavier and a guy feels more exposed. The pace once again quickened but this time I could only suffer as I watched the wheels ahead of me get further away.
Thankfully Bruce was nice enough to lolligag back to me and ride me back onto everyone's wheels.
At this point my legs were feeling the love and it would be a struggle to hold. Soon enough we hit another roller and sure enough the gap started to increase again. This yo-yo'ing happened a couple of times until it became impossible for me to get back on their wheels (even with Bruce's help of trying to ride me back). I decided to settle into my pace and just spin the legs as hard as was possible for me.
What is crazy is that it was a 67 mile ride which included about 2,700 ft of climbing and the average speed was 19.4! What is even more cooo-cooo is that this really was an 'easy' paced ride for these studs! I rode back home with my tail between my legs and once again was humbled by people who are fit and strong.
I also realized that Saturday's ride tallied up to 13+ hrs of saddle time this past week so it might have been a case of tired legs but most likely it is just that these dudes are bad asses!
I got an invite to join a friend and some of his riding buds for a 'chill' 60+ mile road ride over towards Sisters and back to Bend. I eagerly accepted and joined the boys at 11:00. We started off easily enough cruising in the Sisters direction via back roads where there was either little traffic or nice wide shoulders.
At one point we hit the main 2 lane highway that connects Sisters to Bend and the boys laid down the hammer a little to get off that road relatively quickly. I barely hung on by a thread and was rather relieved when we turned off the road and the pace slowed down. It was becoming pretty evident that their 'chill' pace was not my 'chill' pace. We did some great loops as we wound our way to Sisters and then ended up in Sisters where there was a quick stop at the bakery where we dug into our jersey's and fueled up.
Soon enough we were back on the road and snaked our way back until we were once again forced to hit the main road where traffic was heavier and a guy feels more exposed. The pace once again quickened but this time I could only suffer as I watched the wheels ahead of me get further away.
Thankfully Bruce was nice enough to lolligag back to me and ride me back onto everyone's wheels.
At this point my legs were feeling the love and it would be a struggle to hold. Soon enough we hit another roller and sure enough the gap started to increase again. This yo-yo'ing happened a couple of times until it became impossible for me to get back on their wheels (even with Bruce's help of trying to ride me back). I decided to settle into my pace and just spin the legs as hard as was possible for me.
What is crazy is that it was a 67 mile ride which included about 2,700 ft of climbing and the average speed was 19.4! What is even more cooo-cooo is that this really was an 'easy' paced ride for these studs! I rode back home with my tail between my legs and once again was humbled by people who are fit and strong.
I also realized that Saturday's ride tallied up to 13+ hrs of saddle time this past week so it might have been a case of tired legs but most likely it is just that these dudes are bad asses!
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