July 4th Weekend Events

On July 4th I joined the invitation to ride with fellow NARC members at the brewery. Diane was planning a fairly flat 56 mile ride from the brewery and that morning we had a good group of riders with most everyone in the group capable of sustaining good speed. This time around I wanted to show some restraint because this group does ride with some intensity (in my book) and I wanted to hang on for the duration of the ride. Something I had struggled to do the past several rides with this group. I did a few pulls, but for the most part I did not chase anyone except one brief sprint up a small climb to the crest. It was mostly to climb using the current momentum, but it did draw the attention of a couple out to chase me. About 20 miles my rear tire flatted, which may not be a significant thing, but there is more to this later in the weekend. At the end I held on as some of the stronger riders started to pull away and the paceline started breaking apart. I found myself riding with a small paceline that included Bill, Gary, Edgar and myself. Overall, I was very pleased with the group on Friday though there was one maybe two new members that did not seem to flow as well with our smooth riding style that our typical bunch normally has, but I won't go into that. I will just say that it was a very pleasant and intense day of riding.

The NARC plan for Saturday was Bill leading a group from Ellijay to Fort Mountain. I would have loved to join that ride because I love the climb up Fort Mountain, but I had promised my wife that I would spend the day with her doing some home projects. Cindi definately deserved my attention instead of me spending the day on the bike, but I did slip in 40 minutes of time on the trainer early that morning and that felt good. On our trip out to Home Depot I stopped in Outspokin to pick some more tubes and air cartridges.

Sunday, I had planned an easy day on the bike with Cindi's blessing to be away for part of the day and then spend the late afternoon and evening with my in-laws. I was somewhat excited about doing this ride and even though I had planned this easy spin on the Silver Comet the ride can be as intense as you want to make it. Unlike regular roads there can be inconsistent effort levels because of the rolling terrain and stops at the intersections. For those unfamiliar with the Comet it is a Rails to Trails paved pathway and relatively flat. One has to constantly pedal so the power output can be consistent. In other words if you want to work there are no hills to coast down so you have to constantly pedal to keep the bike moving forward.

Now to the disappointment of Sunday. As I started out dark clouds started moving in and it wasn't a mile later the rain was coming down. I was content to keep moving forward though my vision was limited. My legs were feeling great and pedaling smooth as the bike pressed forward on the wet path. The soaking rain actually felt refreshing as I approached the 4 mile mark. I see a couple of guys coming toward me and one yells at me, "you're riding into a storm." I respond with an, "okay" and I was kind of patting myself on the back for the diligence of training despite the rain, but thank the Lord for stepping in to give me some rational thinking. It wasn't a few minutes after the guy's warning my back tire blew. Luckily I had a new tube and cartridge with me and I was only a few hundred feet from a bike shop located on the path just in case things didn't go well with the install. I decided rather than walk down to the shop and change the tube in the dry I would go ahead and change it in the pouring down rain. I had so much road grit on my hands that I know debris was contaminating the installation of the new tube, but I got the tube aired up and decided to high tail it back to the truck as the crack of thunder and flash of lightning was lighting up the dense tree canopy. My legs were feeling strong and I was cruising in the mid 20's with hope that the tire would hold up as it seemed as if the thunder was chasing me down the path. As I got back to the truck a guy in a race wheelchair stopped to talk to me and we stood in the rain and chatted a little while. By the time I returned home the back tire was flatted again. It was disappointing to end the Sunday ride with only 8 miles, but I thank the Lord for watching over me to get back to the truck safely.