Weekly Beatdown

Today's beatdown was shorter than usual. It took me over an hour to get home from work and I didn't have time to spin around before the ride like I usually do. I've been having trouble with that lately. Traffic patterns are changing. No good.

I ran into Matt Kicklighter at Reality and we rolled out together with the B1 group. We rolled out kind of fast, but then the ride got really lazy. Three good climbs in, it seemed like nobody wanted to work very hard. Somebody said something about it so I attacked the group. It was a fake attack though, just something to get them motivated. I rode up a few hundred yards and eased up slightly. The group got organized and chased me down after a half mile or so. From then on, we were really moving and it was awesome.

There were a lot of dynamics in the group today too. Usually they just pin it for 25 miles and rotate, but today there were lead groups, chasers, a proper peloton, I had to bridge up a few times. It was great.

It wasn't so great on the approach to Sawnee Mountain though. A truck tried to pass right when another truck was coming the other way. He drove the approaching truck off the road and pulled across the head of the group. Sitting here right now, I'm still amazed no one was killed. He had to stop at the light and we tried hard to catch up and get his plate, but the light turned green too soon. You win this time.

This time.

We picked it up hard over Sawnee. I felt great. Maybe I'll try the A group again next week. I'll probably get dropped, but you know, I gotta try.