Wednesday Worlds. Week 1.

I'm going to call this week a "scout mission". I don't want to deceive you, I had every intention of staying with the B group until the end. But then we started.

We rolled out from Bollo's at 6 PM, between 15 and 20 strong I would say. I tagged onto the back thinking I would take it easy and see how the ride went. Well the only time I got to "take it easy" was when the group got stopped by a flagger because they were repaving Cedar Run.

Once we got past that hold up we went down Cedar Run and took a left onto Luster's Gate. During these miles I felt pretty comfortable, the group was holding a solid pace (to me), maybe around 23 mph and I was sitting near the back. Then we got to the end of Luster's Gate.

Now usually at the end of Luster's a slower "B group" rides off and the faster "A group" waits a minute or so until they start the chase. Apparently not enough A riders showed and we all turned right onto Catabwa. This is where the fast riding began (I think due to the A riders setting the pace). I don't know what the B pace is since this was my first week but I'm guessing it doesn't hover near 30 mph that I'm pretty sure they were doing while I slide off the back.

I got dropped within the first two miles of the "racing" portion of the 20+ miles they had planned for the day, but I wasn't alone. There were two other riders with me and together we went on for another 4 or 5 miles keeping a steady pace alternating lead, But eventually one of the guys fell off the back of our chase (I'm calling it a chase because it makes me feel better). That is when the pace between the two of us slowed and we talked about the normal happenings of the ride and other things until we saw the group again.

The group usually regroups at Sandy Ridge but they must have had enough waiting and we saw them coming towards us on the road maybe half a mile from the regroup point. Here comes the rookie mistake.

Dave (I think was the guys name) said that we should just make a U turn and get on the end of the group. Seemed like a good idea, except that I went too far as the group passed and was 50 yards off the end of the main group once I had made my turn and despite my best efforts could not rejoin, Dave on the other hand got on. So I finished the last 13 miles of the ride solo.

Overall though it was fun to do and it wasn't like it was a bad day for a ride anyway. Blue skies and around 70 with hardly any humidity.

Time to start the serious training so maybe next week I can hold out for 3 miles.