Sunday Hammerfest

Well, thats at least what I called it. Originally it was going to be a fairly easy bike with the girls starting at 9am. You never really know who will show up when you put the word out on the forum and emails. I had gotten a call earlier in the week from one of my business competitors who used to work for me over 10 years ago. Mark had ran into David out riding and I guess he had found out looking at the forum that I was biking now. It's funny because I used to give him hell about riding his bike to work, and that was probably 12 years ago at least. Long story short, I invited him and his wife to come ride with us on Sunday.

I got a call at 8:30 from Mark telling me that he and Perry were going to meet us to ride. Perry used to work for a paint company that we bought paint from so it was like old times. Perry also brought his son who was probably 19 or 20 I would guess.

After meeting up at the school and setting the route it was time to see what the boys had. Our group consisted of Annette, Brenda, Bailey, Mark, Perry, Perry's son and myself. I figured it was fitting to take the lead out and off down Mt Carmel we headed. Bailey grabbed on to my wheel and we were rolling. You would think we were sprinting at the speeds we were going. We dropped everyone real quick! I knew Mark had to be a good biker because he had been doing it so long but I really have no idea what level I am on so I wanted to see if they would keep up, pass me or get dropped. They were actually probably playing it smart and just riding a little easier. Brenda and Annette were just having a leisurely stroll and chatting away when they could. Mt Carmel has some pretty good hills on it and I was rolling up them at 17 and down some of them at 24-25mph. Bailey was hanging right with me, not to be out done by some guy! I guess we had a point to prove. If you ride with us, we might just make your tongue hang out!

After turning on to Lemay, I stopped to let everyone catch up and wait on the girls. We were off the main highway now so we could chat and take it easy for a while which we did. Well, when I slowed down Bailey picked it up. We ended up alternating pulling for a while, mostly between Bailey, Mark and myself. Perry and son were keeping up just fine so I figured out we were all pretty much on the same level and we could probably push each other anytime we wanted.

It really was a good ride, we mostly talked about biking. We stopped again at the corner of Hwy 31 and Mt Tabor and Perry told me that my rear wheel was out of round bad. I took a look and sure enough, my stinking wheel was bent so bad that my brakes were rubbing. No wonder I felt like I was working so hard. How I was able to go as fast as I was I don't know. I ended up having to loosen my back brake just so the wheel wouldn't rub it giving me almost no brake at all on the rear. Didn't spoil our fun though. We had a good pace line all the way to 236, I think Bailey fell back with Annette and Brenda somewhere in there. We stopped again at Hwy 89 & 236 to regroup. The girls were not that far behind so they were all really doing a good job of keeping up. I took a pull again with Mark on my wheel. We pretty much dropped everyone this time. We alternated a couple times to give each other a little rest. 19-20mph felt pretty good.

We all kind of backed off a little after we turned on Gun Club Rd. Then it was on to Kerr and back towards the school. The guys stopped at Marks house on Kerr and we said our goodbyes. It was a fun ride with friends and we ended up with right at 27 miles for the morning. My average speed was like 17 which I guess is not bad with some of the stopping and going we did. I know I felt like I had a good workout anyway, which is what's important. Annette was excited too, I think she averaged right around 15 which is really good for that distance and hills for her. Riding with faster people will make you faster, and sometimes you just have to bring it on and give it all you have.

Update on the bike wheel. I took the bike in to Riders Ready yesterday and found out that I had a broken spoke. Where and when that happened I have no idea. I did remember my wheel feeling wobbly on Friday nights ride. Maybe I hit a hole, rock or bump that done it. Irregardless, Greg fixed me up and trued my front and rear wheels up. And for the amazing low price of $16.95! I didn't know you could get anything done that cheap anymore.