Upstate Winter Bicycle League details
When I got up Saturday morning, one of the first things I did was go to look at the thermometer in the kitchen. As I began sipping my coffee, I noticed the meter reading 34 degrees. Hmmmm, that wasn’t so bad. I’ve ridden when it was colder.
The question now was how to dress. By the time I walked out the door the temperature had climbed to 38 degrees. Finally, I decided you can always get cooler on a cold day, but it is hard to get warmer.
At Carolina Triathlon I was somewhat surprised by the number of riders who showed up for the cold morning excursion onto Greenville county roads. I had to get in the line for people going to sign in and give their $5 for the support vehicles (Hmmmm, $700 covers a lot of gas!) Finally, I was through the line and out on my bike.
A good number of my riding buddies were there. It was fun picking them out from the crowd as Mr. Sperry was giving us the opening announcements. Then I headed out ahead of the group in order to get in position to take video of them leaving.
I didn’t realize just how many were on the ride until they call came past me! My only thought as I got on the tail end was I would have to make my way all the way through the group to get to the front. Turns out I was stuck back there for some time.
Steve Sperry was following up with the support vehicle and we talked for a bit as we rode out of town. Then he headed up around the group to sort out some of the logistics. By that time we were past the entrance to the Greenville Hospital and getting out of the city.
Being in the back really wasn’t that much fun. There was a major yo-yo effect going on back there. It seemed I was spending as much time braking as pedaling. It was time to get to the front!
It was a lot easier said than done. There was so much bicycle traffic filling the lane that it was hard to find openings without going over the yellow line. I did make some progress but because I was the absolute rider to start out, I had a lot more to go!
My chance came during the nature break about an hour into the ride. Because I wasn’t hearing nature’s voice telling me to stop, I made my way up to the front. Okay, so I was cheating, but you have to do what you have to do!
Things were sooooo much better up there. I was able to put up my yo-yo and settle in for some fun. Things were pretty uneventful for the next hour or so.
It was then I overheard some of the people talking on the radios. Sperry was saying that things were still too bunched up and we need to spread things out. He was giving instructions that after an upcoming turn they were supposed to pick up the speed.
I was very glad to be at the front! My guess is anyone at the back was going to have a tough time for the next hour. We made the turn and I started accelerating with the other riders around me.
While we did ride along at a faster clip, there still weren’t any odd or memorable things that happened. At least until we made the turn to head back into town. I heard the double-tweet of a whistle and at first thought Steve was expressing displeasure with some of the riders.
I realized the whistle was the alert of an attack zone. So, we were going to sprint on the first day out. Suddenly everyone got quieter and settled into a high cadence. I was right there with them.
I didn’t really have a great desire to sprint it out, but I was interested in testing my power and endurance after several weeks “off the bike.” It was time to find out.
While in the group I started taking a look around me to decide which rider I would throw in with. A Hot Tubes kit went by me and I figured it was Alder Martz. He just might be someone to follow. So, I did.
Where did that lead me? Right to the front — and then off the front. One rider had taken off for the line even before the whistle blew. Alder took off after him. I was sitting in his draft and each time I looked down I was putting out over 500 watts.
Then he looked back and took a look at me. I read in his face that he figured the gig was up — not that I was going to over take him, but because I wasn’t going to be much help! He split off to the left and I hesitated.
There were a number of riders just behind us. I knew we were about to get swallowed up, but I figured I would help bring the group up to the breakaway rider. I took a breath and kept going.
Finally, I pulled off and about 20 riders came around me. This is when I was very pleased with myself. In the past, I would tend to drop back — and keep dropping back. However, this time I was able to recover quite quickly and got back in the top twenty.
I sat in for just a bit and actually felt good enough to give it another go. Had I picked up my speed at that point I could have picked off several more riders before the line. However, I had already learned as much as I wanted. I called it a day.
Once again things settled down and we rode into the shop. I was there with the first 10 or so riders. Boyd Johnson and Jim Cunningham were talking about riding over Paris Mountain. I almost asked if I could join them, but then thought better of it since it was well past lunch and the family was expecting me home.
It was a blast. I’ll be out there again. Why don’t you join us? Just don’t look for me in the back!
Tags: UWBL
