oh man! why did he have to show up?

so as a cyclist that races you know, if you aren't a cyclist, winter base miles can be excruciating, monotonous and painfully insane. so mixing your training up with the mountainbike on some singletrack is a much needed chance to has some fun. and even a group ride here or there is really fun as well........although you have to be carefull. this 'group ride' can be a chancy deal at best. first of all, you need everyone on the same page i. e. it's 'base miles' which means guys should hopefully taking it easy. 'base miles' are a time for the slow long time in the saddle kindof training. however, you should know or at least i should, that when you get more than 4 males cyclists together...............well..................let's just say there is too much testosterone in the group or the levels of ability differ enough that you have a higher pace than normal or wanting a person might be looking for as far as following there training log. you might just have guys on different periods of there 'program' or training. whatever the case may be, i should have friggin' known better.!!!!!!!!!!!!!...........
however, the doldrums of base training were blinding me and i was under the impression that a sunday group ride on the road with 10 other guys in sub 32degree weather was a really good idea..... man, did it sound like a lot of fun too!
jeez! am i a dumbass, or what?...........i should've known better, but it had been so long since i had riden with somebody other than myself and maybe my friend ted from time to time, well...................i was blinded i guess, or in denial.
i was immediately mad aware of my mistake and slapped back into reality when i pulled into the bike shop parking lot on sunday morning by who i saw there. the 1st person i see was an immediate 'ah shit' kinda reminder to what i had gotten myself into. a realization that this was not going to be an easy ride. hell, i was the 3rd guy there, who else was going to show up that was going to cause my legs to be ripped off? that first culprit that brought me back to my 'mortal' cat 4 world was 'Bill'. let's just say 'Bill' is a cat 1 racer who has been racing for over half of his 38 year old life and is one of those guys that just loves, i really mean 'loves' to suffer. shit! what on earth was i thinking? too late to back out now. 2 more guys show up..............i'd really be a puss if i snuck out now. oh well, its sunday, i'm off for 4 days, i can just decide to suffer. these are things i am telling myself to mentally prepare for the impending pain. its the last ride before a recovery week in my training cycle, the previous ttwo days of easy recovery rides have made my sore, heavy legs feel better........hmm, what else can i lie to myself about...............this is gonna friggin' hurt!!

skip to 3 and a 1/2 hours later, im rolling up to my driveway, i am tired, my legs are dead, i'm cold and somehow............i'm glad i took my 'asskickin'. it didnt hurt as bad as i thought, we didnt go as hard as i thought we would. oh, dont get me wrong, it still hurt, it was still a harder ride than i want for this type of year or that i have planned for my training. i might end up really feeling the affects a couple of weeks down the road...................still, its good to test yourself, even in the winter. its good to ride with guys who are stronger than you, its how you yourself improve and get stronger. right? thats what i tell myself anyway.
most of all though, it was just fun to ride with some company, some social ascpect to the ride i guess. sometimes you gotta throw the 'training book' away and just go ride. thats what time away from racing is all about. get away from whole 'just riding to train' mindset......for godsake! its a friggin' bike! go have fun!!

till next time, keep the rubber side down!