Mice On Roids

First week on my bike consistently. Its amazing how you can be off your bike, out of your running shoes, or off your skies for a week or two and before you know it you have a lot of work ahead of you to get back to the fitness level you were weeks before.

Well, my last Tuesday group ride was the first part of June, right before our wedding. Its been a while and now I've got some work ahead of me so that by Chequamegon Fat Tire I will be ready and fast.

Every Tuesday night a group of guys gather at Spring Street Sports for a 43 mile ride. Throughout the evening there are points where sprints take place, bragging happens, and the better of the riders shine. Most guys are wanna be, middle of the pack bikers like myself. However, there are a couple riders on Tuesdays who have bragging rights, rightfully so.

Some are state champions, others are former pro riders, but most are middle of the pack riders. The evening usually goes like this: everyone hangs on throughout the first two sprints, after the third sprint riders start dropping off one by one, an hour into the ride the whole pack has blown up and the pros are out front, a few riders hanging on for dear life, and the rest are taking county roads back to Chippewa Falls, a little humiliated.

Right before I got dropped!

It basically ends up being a wild chase of cat and mouse. Middle of the pack riders, like cats, are vehemently thrashing and frothing at the mouth trying to catch the riders who never find themselves in the middle of any pack, the mice on roids.

My last group ride in June I had finally conditioned myself to the point where I was staying with the leaders and finishing, barely holding on. Last night I was chewed up and spit out the back of the group at the half way point. Tristen and Mike Johnson thought it would be fun to not let up after each sprint. So when most of us needed to recover, they thought it would be fun to pour it on. By the time I was dropped we were 26 miles into the ride and averaging 19.8 mph. Ouch!

Chasing the mice on roids.

For some reason I enjoy the pain and the humiliation of riding with the Tuesday night crew. Tuesday nights are one of those nights that I get to rub shoulders with the guys I strive to ride with. Guys who will never experience the middle of the pack and who every avid rider strives to be like! We will have to see how next Tuesday goes.

Bike On

Sturgie