Sunday, August 03, 2008

Early Birds Sunday Ride

Back on Long Island after a weeks vacation with the family in Maine, around Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Island. I did get a second ride around Acadia's Park Loop Rd. on Friday. It was a wet ride through the morning mist and overnight rain, but I did seem to have the whole park virtually to myself.

Ten hours in the car yesterday to get back home, so I decided to REALLY stretch my legs with a fast EB ride. Out to Manorville for the 7:30am ride start. There was a huge group today, at least 35 riders, I would say. We headed out on the south route and had a very fast pace with a bit of tailwind. At Dune Rd., things started off tentative but soon we were pulling 25+ mph into the headwind. After my pull, someone unleashed a strong acceleration and I had no time to recover. I lost the wheel ahead and two or three of us were off the back. We struggled on ahead and I eventually bridged up to 3 or 4 other small groups. Three of us powered up over the bridge and met up with the lead group at the regrouping stop probably only about 1 minute behind.

We waited up for everyone else then set off again. Just before the deli stop the group split. About ten of us kept going, skipping the deli. A fast-paced 50-mile ride! Except for last Friday's race, I don't think I've dug this deep for months!

Vacation is over, so back to the work grind and the usual ride schedule tomorow!

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