The Open Road Part Two

Well my road biking saga continues with a successful 80km ride to Richer and back to Steinbach. It helped having nice cool weather and some great & interesting people to ride with. Occupations of this assorted bunch included: a doctor, teachers, water plant technician, travel agent, professor, bike shop owner, etc.


I think at one point we were about 14 or so riders, riding in two lines taking advantage of the amazing effect of drafting behind each other. I don't have a speedometer on my borrowed Norco bike (thanks again Pat) so I wasn't able to keep track of my average speed but I would guess it would have been around 32 kms/hour - our last 6-8 kms had us tracking at a good 40 kms an hour thanks to a second wave of energy for me and a mild tail-wind.

I'm getting more into this sport but got a good taste of humility after trying to pull the group in the front during leg one and had to pull off & recover for a couple kms. But hey - its only my second attempt at this road cycling thing and at heart I'm still a mtn biker yearing for tight single track and hills to climb and descend. We did hit some faster kms on a hill - I think Pat hit 50kms/hour - I know I was riding with him at 45kms/hour for a bit but I don't know if I went any faster as he blasted past me. It is incredible to think how efficient a bicycle actually is - that I can propel my 185lb body that fast simply by pedaling a chain through a series of cogs. Each ride is getting more interesting and I love the sweet spot of drafting - reminds me of finding the sweet spot of surfing on a wave. We'll see how climbing the stairs is later today!