Finally made it out to the NCVC Espresso Ride...the club's last of the year. It's been a real challenge to make it out, since every chance I had to go out, the weather sucked and the ride cancelled. This was also my first group ride in over 7 months. It looked like a 100ish riders made it out today, so a great reintroduction to group riding.
Ride goes through DC and parts of MD. Post-snowmaggedon roads in DC suck, with potholes all over the place. Potholes are an annoyance on a solo or small group ride, but downright dangerous in such a large group. I almost lost it on the way out of Georgetown, narrowly missing a 3ft wide pothole. The ride was fairly tame until about 15 or so miles into it, when we started climbing a fairly short hill...I was sitting towards the back when I noticed the guys up at the front pushing up the pace. I hit the gas and started passing folks on the way up the hill, coming within a few wheels length of a small group of 15 or so riders...took a minute to catch my breath and the hit it again...I narrowly missed latching on to the group and was in no-man's land for awhile. Luckily there was a regroup a mile or so up the road. Ride was uneventful for the next few miles, then a dumbass in a van decided he didn't want to wait behind a group of 100 riders doing the speed limit downhill, so he merged into the group, just in front of me, almost pushing me off the road...nice. I'm not sure what the hurry was all about. A few miles later, the ride split with a group "riding a bit longer", and the rest doing the standard 45-miles...normally, I'd opt for the long ride, but since the "bit longer" wasn't defined for me, and I'm supposed to be tapering for a marathon in 2 weeks, I opted for the planned 45. There were a few sprints that caught me off guard, but I was able to chase and catch those that started the sprint...happy about having a few decent riding skills. I was doubting myself after this long layoff, but have faith that I can finish comfortably "middle of the pack" in the 2 road races I'm signed up for in the next month.
Got the new Garmin Edge, so I'm playing with Garmin Connect...I still haven't mastered the Edge, and kept it running while on the metro...the 55mph reading is when the metro was above ground near National Airport.
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