Hello Reality!

With the hip continuing to feel better each week I decided to head out to New Albany last night for the weekly COP ride.  Thought I should try and make up for lost time and get some speed in my legs.  By the time the ride began there was a pretty large crowd in attendance and I was trying to decide between the "A" & "B" groups.  When I first arrived Todd was there and he was planning to go with the A's and asked me if I wanted to head out with him for a short warm up ride.  Warm up ride?  I typically don't do a warm up before a weeknight group ride but I'm glad I did tonight.  This should have been my first hint of what was to come.

After sizing up the impressive looking group I reluctantly hopped in with the A's and we headed out into a fairly stiff cross wind.  I was toward the back of the pack and almost off the side of the road as I searched for some protection from the wind.  Riders were dropped along way and I felt better than expected, hanging pretty well until we reached the hills outside of Granville.  I crested the first big climb with the lead group but my tank ran out of gas as the group began to accelerate.  A few stragglers who had fallen off during the climb worked to jump back on but my body had enough.  The lead group backed off a bit after that first hill so I should have dug deep to get back on and try to catch a quick recovery.  As it turned out I was stuck in no man's land maintaining my distance from the group but unable to close the gap.  After a few miles riding alone I regrouped with Todd who had gotten caught up in some car traffic when we made the earlier turn toward Granville (the A's wait for no-one) and the two of us pressed on at a recovery pace.

Less than 10 miles from the finish the lead group of B riders (I think Mark Wilson has referred to them as the "B+ group") came up to us and one guy yelled for us to jump on.  With our legs rested we hopped onto the group and pressed on toward New Albany.  The pace was brisk and smooth and our group worked well together for the rest of the ride.

Although my legs had a reality check and I recognize how much fitness I lost with my hip ordeal, I felt good overall and had a great time riding with some really strong cyclists.  In retrospect I may have been better served to ride with the B's but I think the extra push to ride hard was good for me.  I'm hooked on the New Albany ride and plan to be there and each week my work schedule permits.