Lighthouse Challenge

This weekends ride was awesome. Did the metric century or 60 mile ride. My buddy "Rick" and I teamed up to make sure we stayed at a brisk pace. Which was nice of him considering he could have left me a couple of times.

We started off great with a real nice group that was traveling at a good pace. It takes me a good 5-8 miles in one of these things just to shake off the nerves so I was proud to be moving along so swiftly without panting so hard. But then I had to get greedy. I rarely move into the big chain ring, I should but I just don't. So here we are moving along nicely and I switch up to get more speed. I don't know why because I immediately had to slow down in order to keep from hitting the person in front of me. That just shows my inexperience in the pace line. So I shift back down and I must have clicked twice because it goes into the small ring and the chain and the chain slipped off. I was so mad.

I moved out of the pace line and Rick did also while I put the chain back on. So here we go, we lost our group and now are trying to catch up with them. It is so frustrating to see the people in front of you and get so close but you just can't quite get up there.

I really believe that the frustration in that contributed to my high heart rate and heavy breathing. I don't think the extra peddling to catch up did, and I am serious about that. It was all mental. The only thing that kept me from psyching myself out was that Rick told me we were averaging about 20 MPH.

We got to the first rest stop and did the break thing. The first leg was pretty nice. It had a couple of hills but nothing too bad. The roads weren't all that great but we had a good time.

Hill reality set in awfully quick. My wife is from Wingo which is in Graves County, the scene of the crime. .I mean ride. She told me one time when I thought of riding to Wingo from Murray that is was hilly. It seems the rest of Graves is also. The whole rest of the route was hill after hill it seemed. Just when I would recover from one, bam! there was another.

We hooked up with two riders for the last 20 and that made it easier but man those hills were tough. Unfortunately I was not able to pull the group as much as I wanted but everyone was cool about it. One was a Mountain Biker and he wasn't a happy guy even though I figured the hills wouldn't be that bad for him. Of course he was doing a whole lot better than he thought he was doing. The other rider I had met the week before and I think he could have left us whenever he wanted. I sure appreciated each one of them.

My back hurt through the whole thing which tells me I really need to lose that weight and get some back exercises in but we did the course at 18 mph average and I am very proud of that.

The ride was great and once again the people were great. I belong to the cycling club in dues only and bought my bike from a place a lot of them shop so I knew the owner and he introduces me to people but all of these guys know each other. However they always make a new guy feel better. I am convinced it is southern hospitality.

Third Person Is Tiring

Ok it is too hard to write in the third person and nobody is reading this yet but me. Yeah it makes it look somewhat more clever but it is no fun having to rephrase everything. And really this is just a journal for me anyway.

So I may refer to myself as the fat guy but I have got to start writing I you know what I am saying.

Sharpe Resurection Ride

The fat guy did an orginazed ride this past weekend in Sharpe KY. which is a small town in Marshall County. This ride was sponsored by Sharpe Baptist Church and WoodnWave in Grand Rivers. I have mentioned them before, that is were the fat guy got his ride.

The 40 miler was the longest and since there had been no peddling since spring break that was probably the best.

The ride started off on the wrong foot because the the computer quit working on "Jane". That is the fat guys name for his ride. The full name is Jane's Addiction. Kind of a play on the band name but also because the fat guy has an addictive personality. He was addicted to alcohol and then gave all that up and purchased the bike. Now he is addicted to the bike, thus the name.

This is the second time the computer has crapped out. Each return to the bike shop ends up with the computer working and the fat guy looking like the beginner he is.

Anyhoo.. .the fat guy caught up with two riders and asked if he could ride with them. They said sure so we were off. It took about 8 miles to shake the nerves. The fat guy gets real jacked up and nervous before long rides. Especially with people he doesn't know. A few etiqutte mistakes were made in the begining but overall the fat guy held is own and had a great ride.

One thing for sure, people in this area are just nicer than anywhere else. No knocking Cape or Destin but around here we really take and interest in new people. Several of the riders there new each other but did not hesitate to ask the fat guy who he was and how he was doing.

Hopefully going to Mayfied for a ride this weekend. This one is 60. If the fat guys buddy Rick will not take off from him then it should be a good ride and fast.