After riding quite a bit over the weekend, I wasn't sure if I was going to do the St. Charles ride. Todd stopped by and said he was going to do it and the weather was perfect, so I decided to go.
I loaded up the ride and headed out. I got there a few minutes early. I saw guys that I rode with before but nobody seemed too chatty. At exactly 6:00 we rolled out. It was a pretty big group, maybe 50 or more. It was slow at first, as usual. After a mile or two it bumped up to 18-19. I came out on to the front expecting somebody to attack and nothing happened. Pushing it up to 22-23 before the turn a few guy took off but didn't get big gaps. I decided to hang out around to first five.
After the first right Todd took a flyer and Glenn and I chased him down. We spent a few minutes in rotation about 10 yards off the front. It seemed like we were going about 24-26 for a while. Finally we went back and took a break.
By the time we got to the tailwind part the usual guys started taking flyers and we chased them down. We were strung out at 29-30 some of the time. Shawn took off at one point and a few of us caught him after a long slog.
I was doing a lot of work. It wasn't a super fast ride, but I felt good about how I was doing.
We were heading north and I was leading the entire pack, taking a pull. At an intersection I heard somebody yell something. After a second I turned around to see the entire group turning.
Great! I said a few choice words. I didn't know how to get back to start so I had to turn around. Needless to say, the huge group was way ahead at that point and there was no way I was going to catch up.
After soloing in I headed back to car. I picked up a pizza on the way home watched the Tour Stage. Another experience for the record books.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Monday, July 02, 2007
Knucklehead
I did my first Knucklehead ride yesterday. Actually, I did only part of it. I thought it started at the Schnucks in Ladue, when it actually started at the Scnucks in Clayton (which isn't there anymore).
I figured this out after talking to a cyclist near Ballas where I drove trying to catch the group. I decided at that point to change out my flat tire and jump in when the group got there. It almost worked. I wound up chasing them down just past Topping. The group was taking it easy. I knew a quite a few people in the group so we all chatted.
There are two rides, a short and a long. I wanted to do the long ride because I haven't been doing any hills this year.
We headed down Clayton across Clarkson. The "short" ride went right and I kept going straight up a long hill. I started getting passed right away and wondered if I would get dropped. I finally got my motor going and as we crested the hill I caught the front three riders. I had heard that they regroup after the hills and it turned out to be true. We head down 109 and jumped on the bike path and started riding the Marquette ride route. After the turn on Pond Road we made a quick right on Rieger. There was another tough climb.
It was climb and recover. The road was wet so I held back on the descents. I recently cleaned my chain and the degreaser got on my front derailleur and dryed it out. I had trouble downshifting. At one point I felt good and was riding on the front. We hit a steep hill and I couldn't get on to the small ring in the front. I stopped for a couple of seconds and got it working again. I worked with the lady in green for a while to pace back up to the group.
The hills started to take their toll. On the long Six Flags hill I got dropped. I knew they were stopping for water at the top, so after a long slog I finally got to meet some of the other riders. It was mostly guys my age or younger. There were several very strong women riders, a medical student, a Colorado U grad, a guy named Ted who I raced with in the past. All nice people, maybe 15-20 overall.
We did the Melrose climbs backward to Rockwood and climbed Wood. I got dropped again on the climb. We regrouped and started heading back. There was a headwind, but we kept up a good pace. I was starting to cramp up a little bit. When I got to the car I was pacing with two of the women riders a couple of hundred year off of the lead group.
They had about five miles to go. I was done. I loaded up the bike and listened to the new Paul McCartney CD.
I definitely need to do more climbing. This ride is a great way to spend a Sunday morning and get a good workout.
I figured this out after talking to a cyclist near Ballas where I drove trying to catch the group. I decided at that point to change out my flat tire and jump in when the group got there. It almost worked. I wound up chasing them down just past Topping. The group was taking it easy. I knew a quite a few people in the group so we all chatted.
There are two rides, a short and a long. I wanted to do the long ride because I haven't been doing any hills this year.
We headed down Clayton across Clarkson. The "short" ride went right and I kept going straight up a long hill. I started getting passed right away and wondered if I would get dropped. I finally got my motor going and as we crested the hill I caught the front three riders. I had heard that they regroup after the hills and it turned out to be true. We head down 109 and jumped on the bike path and started riding the Marquette ride route. After the turn on Pond Road we made a quick right on Rieger. There was another tough climb.
It was climb and recover. The road was wet so I held back on the descents. I recently cleaned my chain and the degreaser got on my front derailleur and dryed it out. I had trouble downshifting. At one point I felt good and was riding on the front. We hit a steep hill and I couldn't get on to the small ring in the front. I stopped for a couple of seconds and got it working again. I worked with the lady in green for a while to pace back up to the group.
The hills started to take their toll. On the long Six Flags hill I got dropped. I knew they were stopping for water at the top, so after a long slog I finally got to meet some of the other riders. It was mostly guys my age or younger. There were several very strong women riders, a medical student, a Colorado U grad, a guy named Ted who I raced with in the past. All nice people, maybe 15-20 overall.
We did the Melrose climbs backward to Rockwood and climbed Wood. I got dropped again on the climb. We regrouped and started heading back. There was a headwind, but we kept up a good pace. I was starting to cramp up a little bit. When I got to the car I was pacing with two of the women riders a couple of hundred year off of the lead group.
They had about five miles to go. I was done. I loaded up the bike and listened to the new Paul McCartney CD.
I definitely need to do more climbing. This ride is a great way to spend a Sunday morning and get a good workout.
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