Easter Team Training Ride

With so much impressive training going on, it was only a matter of time until my number was called. The day started at 10am in sub-30-degree temperatures at Ziggi's with a merry troupe of 8 Blue Sky'ers.

We made our away across town over mostly dry roads, but as we ventured north of 66 we had to abort as there was simply too much snow! We continued our moderate pace west on Rt66, and then there was an absolute throw-down on Rt36. As one of our designated "good luck to you" parts of the ride, everyone was doing a bit of free-form interval work. I was going 100%, with a bit of variation in the tempo. Kevin started at the rear of the group and practiced closing gaps as they opened up. Eric was in "go hard until they crack, or I do" mode, and a few others like the 'Stick and Brad were just enjoying the day atop their Cannondale steeds. After 15 minutes of work we all met up at Nelson.

At Nelson we decided it was too damn cold, and instead of putting a halt to the ride I suggested we head to Amante's and wait for the day to warm (or for our spouses to pick us up). This suggestion was met with overwhelming acclaim. And so you have it, 2 hours into my "training" ride I was warming at Amante's with a cappuccino and a chocolate-infused croissant.

After some prodding by Kevin, we were awaken from our caffeine stupor and back on our bikes after about 30 minutes. Our moderate, conversational pace continued to Jay Rd and the Diagonal to 75th. By now it had warmed up and we rode north on roads that only a few hours earlier were treacherous. At Woodland and 83rd we all parted ways.

I decided it was time to put the new rocketship bike through its paces, so I put the needle at "tempo", put my hands in the drops, and "got on it" to Carter Lake. I pushed it on the dam and hoped to find the bathrooms open at the marina (I didn't), then I hit an unimpressive 47mph on the back side and continued a hard pace back to Longmont via all the rolling hills in between. I put in a few bursts of speed along Mountain View to see what was possible after 5 hours of riding (873W for 5s), and then cruised home thinking about how I'd spent most of the day on my bike, but it wasn't so bad because I had:

1. Swung a deal to buy a car.
2. Learned that the secret to bicycle hygiene is lemon-scented Pledge.
3. Heard way too much about Kevin's over-sized bottom, umm, bracket.
4. Burned 2900 calories which would allow me to eat approximately 2 pounds of beef upon my arrival home, and still weigh in the next morning minus 3 pounds.
5. Heard various cycling soliloquies addressing balm, bike tires, politics, next of kin, et cetera.