what a difference a year makes....

This past weekend, I did the Spring Breakaway ride in Katy with one of my friends from the club. We signed up at the last minute, since he wanted to get a long ride in, and hadn't done a t-shirt ride in a while. So, he called me up Saturday afternoon, and the conversation went a little something like this:

Him: Hey, know what I think we should do tomorrow?
Me, hopefully: Not go mountain biking? (this was the original plan...we had done a trail ride before, and I kind of hated it. Was going to give it another shot, but had been dreading it all week)
Him: How would you feel about a t-shirt ride? There's one out in Katy, I think they have day-of registrati--
Me: That sounds perfect! [happy dance]
Him: Cool...Wife* works at 1:00, so I need to be back to take the kids. I think if we skip some rest stops, we can do the 60.

This was where I started to get a little nervous. The ride started at 8:00. The route was advertised as sixty-five miles. He lives about an hour's drive away from Katy. So, if we needed to be back at his house by 12:50ish (Wife manages the apt complex they live in, so her commute is 50 meters across the parking lot), we'd need to finish the ride in less than 4 hours.

Still, I was only a little nervous. The route was flat, he's a strong rider, and I'm no slouch myself. My endurance is good, so we could just stop when we needed to fill the bottles. If I hung on his wheel most of the time, we could sustain 19-20 mph the entire ride. So, I signed us up, we worked out the meetup/drive logistics, and everything was settled.

What I didn't count on, but should have, was the WIND. When we started the ride at 8:10 or so, it was already blowing at over 10 mph. By the middle of the ride, I'll bet it was gusting at well over 20. Still, at about 5 miles in, I started to notice some things:

• About half the people on charity rides are clueless about riding in groups
• I felt pretty okay holding 23 mph (albeit with a tailwind)
• We were passing a lot of people
• No one was passing us

Then, as we hit the worst headwind in the natural world, which went on for all eternity (or, you know, 20 miles or so):

• Though I still drafted most of the time, I was able to take a pull every once in a while
• No one was passing us

Of course, just when I started to feel a little smug about getting in ahead of our schedule (mile 50 or so...), my body staged its rebellion. Every time I blinked, it got harder to open my eyes again. My legs were heavy. I couldn't make myself hit over 17 mph. Aaaaand people started passing us. :)

About 10 miles from the finish, though, we turned into a tailwind again and I started to feel better. We were rolling along at 25 mph, trying to close a gap to some riders in front of us...and I got a flat. Crap! We changed it and rolled on, and I was sure as we pulled into the parking lot that we were going to be so late. I looked down at my watch and saw...

12:20.

No way! I checked my computer--we had done 66.7 miles in 3 hours and 51 minutes, 17.2 mph average. Even with 3 stops and a flat, we averaged over 16 mph. I mean, Wife would still have to bring the kids to work with her for about 10 minutes, but all things considered...we rocked it. :)

The best part? Today, I happened to look up my ride report from last year's Spring Breakaway. This year's ride, I shaved 1:09 off my on-bike time, 10 minutes off my stopped time, and increased my speed by almost 4 mph!

Of course, this isn't just a matter of better conditioning or training. I rode solo last year, and I was shamelessly drafting a stronger rider most of the time this year. Also, I'm about 7 lbs lighter than I was this time last year, and my bike has lost about 3 lbs as well. Still...4 mph, dude! That's crazy.

This week, we're doing the Continental Classic, which I did in 5 1/2 hours last year, with an on-bike average of 14.1 mph. This year, I'm hoping to be back in the parking lot by noon. :)

*not her real name :)