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My wife and I were out walking the dog this morning and the topic of riding came up. It started out by reflecting on last weekends century and the speed at which we rode. That was followed by Sundays fast but shorter ride which lead to talking about the next century October 8th. I told my wife that some of the fast riders I rode with Sunday said they were coming out to "Ride the Dragon". One guy who was a beast and could pull our pelton with the greatest of ease in the wind at 28 mph said he had never ridden that far and was wondering if he could do it....I somehow doubt he will have issue with completing it...
Anyway as we talked about all this and being fast(er) someone made a post(in a local forum) saying that Ride the Dragon was a ride and not a race to which my wife said " Does she not ride with guys? It's always a race with guys!" Hmmm...My response to that was NO it's not! BUT there is a certain rush that you can only get from riding hard and fast. To me it's like a drug addiction, once you reach a certain speed just a little more feels better!
I remember when I could first maintain a 14 mph avg and it felt fast. About that time I was asked to ride in my first group ride and what an eye opener that was. It was a late fall ride and it was everything I had to hang on and not quit. After the ride when I felt like I had done something I talked to one of the guys who said " Yea, we slow down in the late fall but good ride!" Talk about bursting my bubble.
Sorry I got so carried away but I do like the rush of riding fast and hard...being on the edge feeling like you've got nothing left to give and being able to give one last push and finish! I still haven't reached my goal of being able to maintain a 20 mph avg and it seems improvements only come in tenths or so of mph and at my age I'm not sure I can get that avg but I'm gonna work hard this winter to rectify that.
I know not everyone likes riding like that and I still enjoy Rail to Trail rides with my wife and friends as much as ever too. I'm trying to work a deal with a friend on a tired old MTB bike to add something different for the winter months to "round" out my riding.
Anyway as we talked about all this and being fast(er) someone made a post(in a local forum) saying that Ride the Dragon was a ride and not a race to which my wife said " Does she not ride with guys? It's always a race with guys!" Hmmm...My response to that was NO it's not! BUT there is a certain rush that you can only get from riding hard and fast. To me it's like a drug addiction, once you reach a certain speed just a little more feels better!
I remember when I could first maintain a 14 mph avg and it felt fast. About that time I was asked to ride in my first group ride and what an eye opener that was. It was a late fall ride and it was everything I had to hang on and not quit. After the ride when I felt like I had done something I talked to one of the guys who said " Yea, we slow down in the late fall but good ride!" Talk about bursting my bubble.
Sorry I got so carried away but I do like the rush of riding fast and hard...being on the edge feeling like you've got nothing left to give and being able to give one last push and finish! I still haven't reached my goal of being able to maintain a 20 mph avg and it seems improvements only come in tenths or so of mph and at my age I'm not sure I can get that avg but I'm gonna work hard this winter to rectify that.
I know not everyone likes riding like that and I still enjoy Rail to Trail rides with my wife and friends as much as ever too. I'm trying to work a deal with a friend on a tired old MTB bike to add something different for the winter months to "round" out my riding.