Nightmare Ride

The first Wednesday night Lights and Pizza ride was last night. I had asked Bill about it because it is advertised as a B ride. "Oh no," he said, "we take it easy and never drop anyone. We probably won't even get to the hills until it gets colder later in the season."

I decided to brave the ride. In a now familiar pattern , I show up and a bunch of skinny guys are standing around waiting for the ride to start. Don't any other fat people ride bikes? They all have gears too, although I would have been surprised otherwise.

Whoosh, start we did, at a pace way to high for me. I expected some hills, so I rode the Quickbeam, but it still had on fat(er) tires (37s) from Sunday's ride. Also, the chain was in need of lube after Sunday's water crossings. Squeak, squeak. This (and a lard ass rider) all added up to SLOW going. I was just about maxed out spinning fast in the lower gearing on the flats, so when we did hit the hills (and they really weren't THAT bad), my lungs were shot. Chris, Bill and John took turns hanging back with me. We'd regroup at intersections.

I felt bad holding folks back. I may have to rethink my group riding and contemplate g-g-g-gears at some point, if just for the coasting down hills. Heresy, I know. I also need to score some better lights, although the cateye did ok. It was washed out completely by some of the lights others were using.