Training Ride - Wednesday, 23 June

I did not want to ride tonight. I mean I REALLY didn't want to ride. I was really tired, my legs (and body) were lead, and I had no idea where I would ride 20 miles in town. Knowing that I would regret missing today's ride big time (and no alternative plan for a ride tomorrow), I e-mailed the TEAM asking for recommendations. One teammate suggested a ride that leaves from the Highlands every Wednesday and, after hemming and hawing (and a premonition of kicking myself if I bailed) I joined them.

I'm so glad I did. A lot of my struggle today was talking myself into meeting yet another bike group. Even though I have seen time and again that cyclists are friendly and welcoming, I always am so intimidated by the mere act of just showing up the first time. Today was another such day, but I talked myself into joining them and it was a good ride--a little slower than I would have liked, but that's to be expected in the city. Today I truly was an urban cyclist.

Stats:
Maximum speed: 32.8 mph
Average speed: 12.8 mph
Distance: 20.63 mi
Time: 1.36.42

There's about a half-mile of stats missing in there from the beginning; we stopped at an Honored Hero's home (Warren) and I took off my computer there and forgot to put it back on until about half a mile later. Whoops.

It was a really neat ride today. We started in the Highlands and then rode around Emory and Decator (is that spelled right? It looks funny) and Avondale. It was so nice to find neighborhoods in which there aren't stop signs every few feet (and those that there were we "ignored"); what a surprise to find a great ride in the city!