Back on the road
-by Kim Foland
It didn't seem like it was so long ago that I was blogging every week about the previous week's race. But that was over a year ago and since then I had my first baby, a little boy named Jake and he is now 8 months old. I've been dying to get on my bike but truth is, I'm not getting much sleep and I'm back to work full time so getting on the bike has been on my list. Unfortunately, it hasn't made it off of my list until 2 weeks ago.
Atlanta like every major city has its share of group rides. There is the infamous Tucker International, the World Cup rides during the week in Buckhead, the Secret Handshake ride, the airport ride. I started my return to cycling life on the airport ride. This is a winter training ride that leaves from downtown Atlanta, goes south of the airport, loops back with a long or short option. I chose a modified short option. This modified short option consists of meeting the group of 80 or so, riding about 15 miles and turning around at the first pee stop.
The group takes it fairly easy to start and then picks it up slightly. The road is a 2 lane highway - ish that is straight and flat. I never used to notice the picking up part until we were 40 or so miles in to the ride but the lack of sleep and lack of riding kept me honest. But tell that to my brain. When the pace picked up slightly and the wind kicked up I thought I should have absolutely no trouble doing what I used to do pre baby when I was training every day with a coach and obsessively doing all of my workouts. So the pace picked up, My friend Gina and I decided we wanted to move up to the front, I moved out in to the wind and moved up about 20 people. Not too hard, I was feeling strong. That strength was short lived when the pace picked up and the gaps started forming. Everyone knows this feeling - it wasn't my muscles, I hadn't taxed them yet, it was my lungs. Do an effort to close a gap and then recover, forget it. But did I learn? Of course not. I proceeded to get gapped, close the gap and try to move up about 4 or 5 times. At one point, I moved up too close to the front and ended up with no where to hide.
But then we took the turn to the pee stop and three of us turned back to ride home. I ended up riding about 35 miles that day. It was absolutely such a thrill to ride at 25mph again in a huge pack of people. And a thrill to get out of the house and to have that same great tired feeling at the end of the ride where all you can think about is what you're going to eat when you get home.
One thing I did want to say and I wouldn't say this if I didn't absolutely mean it. In getting ready for the ride, I had to pull out a lot of winter clothing that I hadn't worn in over a year. Luckily, one of those winter items was a brand new pair of wool Defeet socks with the lovely BMW logos. I love them, love, love love them. If you don't have a pair, buy one immediately. We sell them on the site. They are warm, and comfortable and perfectly padded. I am now wearing them everyday, well as long as they are not in the laundry. Luckily I have two pairs. I need a pair for every day of the week. And so do you!