Gear Girls

   I’ve always said to my wife that I enjoy riding with her more than when I go out by myself, not only because of the social factor, but also because when riding alone, I tend to bury myself, going as hard as possible. Just backing off a little while riding at Sue’s pace is far less fatiguing, and now that her cycling has improved so much, I usually get a decent workout. She used to always thank me for riding with her, and I would explain that I want to ride with her, and that if I felt the need to ride more afterward, I would. Lately I haven’t found the extra work necessary - I’m putting in the miles, but not burning myself out.

   At the end of September Sue and I are participating in the MS150 City to Shore ride. While I have done a similar distance in the past to benefit the American Cancer Society, the farthest Sue had ever ridden was 45 miles in the loop we often travel into Philadelphia and back. On Saturday we had a training ride with the rest of our “team”, my sister-in-law Sandy and her husband Todd, on the relatively flat roads through central Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

   We pedaled a metric century, 100 kilometers or about 63 miles, in a nicely organized event put on by the White Clay Bicycle Club. I was wondering how the women were going to handle it, since they don’t regularly cover the distances or ride at the pace to which Todd and I are accustomed. From having her draft behind me often during rides together, I knew Sue could hold a wheel, but for how long? Sandy rides fairly frequently, but admits that she is a bit intimidated sharing the road with automobiles and prefers the safety of spin classes. I didn’t know if she was going to be comfortable for such a long time in a group of cyclists riding in a paceline.

   As we unloaded our bikes at Middletown High School, I was thinking we were going to do a casual tour of the countryside, and boy, was I wrong. Aided by a couple of short rest stops along the way, we averaged about 17.5 mph for the whole ride! Todd was leading our group most of the time, mainly because he had the route set up in his bike’s navigation system, and it was easier than messing around with the cue sheet. I don’t know if this made him overly confident about where he was headed, but he may have started out a little harder than anyone expected. After about a half an hour on the road we were doing about 19 mph, and from behind me I heard Sue say softly, “I don’t think I’ll be able to hold this pace the whole way.”

   We backed off the speed, taking some spots a bit more slowly, probably due to the abundance of intersections and turns early in the route. Eventually we hit our stride at a comfortable pace for all of us, generally in the order of Todd, Sandy, me and Sue (as pictured, left to right), but we flowed back and forth, often to talk or make a short burst to stretch out the legs a little. There certainly weren’t many people passing us, unless it was after a long wait crossing a busy intersection (Can anyone explain why some cyclists do that?), and then we would end up going right back around them anyway.

   While we’re at it, why do drivers feel the need to go around cyclists when approaching a stop sign/light? We’re going to pull right up beside the car/truck at the stop, and most likely be quicker off the mark, so the driver is going to have to pass us again. I just don’t get the thinking, or lack of it. It’s even more exasperating when they squeeze off the space between car and curb, leaving you to suck in their exhaust while you wait.

   Back at a rest stop in Delaware, spirits were mostly high, in large part due to negligible winds and the forecasted rain that never really amounted to anything but an occasional spritz. I won’t say I let it get me down, because I’ve become somewhat accustomed to the absence of items at feed zones for celiac sufferers such as myself, but the smell of muffins, bagels and (later) pizza gets pretty annoying. I just wanted to rush back onto the bike, but I tried to be patient and let everyone enjoy the breaks. I appreciated the fruit/nut bars Sue made for me, but sometimes the “substitutes” I have to live with just don’t cut it!

   Although Sandy’s back was tightening up during the second half of the event, she simply took some time to stretch, and we were on our way again. Neither she nor Sue had any complaints of leg fatigue, even though the pace never slowed. Late in the ride Sue went into her tuck on the aerobars and pulled away from the group with me in tow. I looked back and found the rest of our gang about a half mile back, probably wondering if we intended on finishing by ourselves.

   The railfan in me helped slow us down, as we viewed a train out in the middle of nowhere, and (I’m pretty sure) I bored our bunch with a story about the newly painted locomotive that was on the front. Shortly afterward we started up one of the few inclines on the route, and Sandy and Sue were hanging behind as Todd and I started uphill. I heard some giggling on my left as Sandy blew by us, and I tried to quickly jump across to salvage my manhood by not letting her get away so easily. I told her next time to laugh after she goes by so that she keeps the element of surprise when attacking. We all enjoy our moments of pretend professional bike racing!

   We had a great time meeting this challenge together and even flirted with the idea of completing the 100 mile route. I have no doubts about my family members completing the MS ride, but I wonder at what speed we’ll be doing it and if the other folks on our team will be able to hang with us.