Hooked up with the guys from the team last night for my second night ride. Have been thinking I need to be doing more nigth riding seeing that I will be racing at night in a coupe of months. Had a good turnout with Don, Dave, Mike, Keith, Chris, Scott, Ray, Jimmy and Ed showing up. Ed and Jimmy had already done a race lap and were still wanting more. After suiting up, checking lights and making sure everyone was ready, we headed into the woods for 11.4 miles of heart-pounding fun.
Dave and Scott, with Chris on his singlespeed, led the group from the start and didn't slow down the entire time. These guys are fast and so we just let them do their thing. After the group split, which didn't take too long, I took over the lead and was setting a good pace. Later on, Mike took over and we ended up taking out one section which put us out front of the lead group. It wasn't long before they caught us. Before long, I had Scott and Dave sucking my back wheel. Once we got through the off-camber section of the trail that runs along the lake, Mike and I pulled over and let them go on by. We were just slowing them down as they could probably tell when they got home and checked their heart rate monitors.
I took over the lead again and was really trying to push myself. Dropped everybody except for Chris. Even on a singlespeed, I can't drop him, except on the climbs. Hint: if you are trying to drop someone on a singlespeed, slow down to almost a stop in the middle of a steep hill, and then crank it back. You won't have many singlespeed friends, but you will drop them. :)
We had a great ride and the weather was awesome! The legs felt good and the new helmet mount for my light made all the difference in the world. I road 100 times better than last time. Gotta start putting more miles in on the mt. bike come March. My goal is to start putting in 2 laps during March to get the body used to longer times in the saddle. Boy, that sounds like fun.
