Worked from home, so I took advantage of the opportunity to swing out to North Park for the 5:30 Wheelmen club ride. This is billed as a development ride, so the basic idea is "no-drop, but plan to work hard in order to improve".
Good turnout; a dozen riders, most of whom I'd met before, ranging from "solid" to "You're a high school freshman, and your cadence is 180?" I did take some pride in being the only guy with fenders, a rack, lights, and a dynamo hub, though.
The route was fun...out Pearce Mill, then up Logan to Babcock, out the Red Belt to Ridge, and back to Mars, then return via Babcock. One accident on the outskirts of Mars...John caught a wheel on the shoulder on a fast descending curve, and took a pretty good tumble; fortunately, Drew and myself (the next two riders) weren't in tight formation behind him, so managed to avoid a three-man pileup. After making sure that John and bike-de-John were functional, we made our way back up Babcock at a more sedate pace. Heh...except for the half-dozen of us that decided the rest of the way into the park from the Red Belt should be, let us say, vigorous. Drew, Jay, Dave, Jim, Chris, and myself had all kinds of good fun getting the heart rate up for the last few miles.
I was pleased...got a good workout, felt great afterwards, and didn't completely suck nor slow down the group. Still need work on fast descents (especially blind curving ones) and climbing, but I'm not as bad off as I was afraid. Guess that daily commute, even if less-than-vigorous, helped prevent some winter loss of fitness.
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