Big WEEKDAY riding

I got bike heavy this week. On Tuesday, with commute I got about 34 miles. I hit the treadmill at lunch. On Wednesday was a swim at lunch and then I did an after work ride.

This ride is, as Butch puts it, this is a WEAR YOUR BIG BOY PANTS AND KNOW YOU WAY HOME ride. I was a little bit worried. I asked Sam if he had ever done the ride. He said, “What ride – that is a race!” He gave me a little bit of advice and said do not take a pull – just cycle out on the pace line. They will wait and detect when you are tired and BAM – you are dropped.

I rode from campus to Jackson Station. My legs were heavy. I was going to go ahead and ride home but Butch persuaded me to partake – he should be a politician. We headed out at an easy pace. Chewing the fat – easy riding. I still did not jump into the lead. We pulled onto Military Road which is just past Eply Station. Once we crossed 589 the pace picked up. Like I said, I was not going to take any pulls. I just grabbed onto the fastest wheel and hung on. The ride was a challenge and it was GREAT FUN! I think this will become a weekly ride.

I still made the Thursday morning ride and it ended up being a ‘King of the Mountain’ type ride. We headed out from Jackson Station at 5:45AM. There was a little bit of jockeying until we got to Eply Road then it broke open. We had a new rider doing some research here from Purdue. He was a strong rider. I, once again, rode a tactical ride. I only took a pull here or there and really just to break the ride up. I sprinted ahead hard towards the end of the approximately 10.5 mile hilly out and back and forced the peloton to pick up the pace. It was a little dirty to sit in the pack and then sprint at the end but I did capture the KOM for the day.  The KOM portion averaged 23 MPH.

Three weekdays and about 100 miles + the 50 or so from the weekend; this has been a big cycling week for me!