Finally, a recreational ride
Despite the fact that I ride pretty much every chance I get, I always look forward to various organized rides. You get to see a lot of people and cool equipment. You don’t need to worry about traffic or prepare as carefully because the organizers do many things to make the ride safe and convenient. And the routes are always very scenic — much more fun than riding along the side of a noisy highway in the dark.
Last Sunday, Bryan, Terry, and I kicked off the riding season with the Monster Cookie. I had actually been hoping for cold, wet, and rainy weather so that Bryan and I could tool comfortably around in our Velokits while everyone else suffered (we weren’t worried about Terry because he’s used to riding in crummy weather). However, conditions turned out to be perfect, so we took our highracers and Terry took a short wheelbase recumbent.
It was a blast. Terry’s a strong rider and our crazy light and very aerodynamic highracers are some of the fastest bikes you’ll find on the road, so we maintained a very brisk pace. On the way back, Bryan decided to make us regret he’d ridden with us (he actually didn’t feel like riding that day but correctly assumed we’d give him no end of grief if he wussed out) and really poured on the speed. Terry’s bike isn’t quite as fast as Bryan’s or mine, and I had used my legs up earlier when I was riding too hard so he did manage to put us in considerable misery.
But that’s just part of the fun. Only a nut would go on 100 bike ride if he wanted to be in total comfort. Besides, it feels so good when you stop…..