Beginner Ride

Nathan and I had our first solo training ride on Saturday January 10. The day dawned warm and muggy. It was 79 degrees when we left the driveway. I think we were both kind of nervous about going solo, but it was a short ride. As we drove west to the starting point, the sky grew Wizard of Oz gray. We agreed that if it was pouring, we wouldn’t even get out of the car (chickens, yes.) But it only rained a little and we shortly discovered that what we were observing was the edge of a dry cold front. The thermometer on my rear-view mirror read 76. Then 75. Then 73. Then 69. Then 64. Then 62 by the time we arrived at the start point. When we got out of the car, we were both happy that Stephen had taught us to take EVERY piece of bicycle clothing we owned on every single ride. Nathan hurriedly put his bike tights on. I added a long sleeved tee-shirt. We both found full finger gloves.
After we were well turned out, we signed in for the ride and listened attentively to a mentor rider who explained the rules of the road and the basics of safety when riding in a group. Nathan and I agreed to ride two abreast for as much of the ride as we could because it would be more fun and the mentor rider said the shoulder was wide enough and the traffic was light enough, we’d be ok.
(See, don’t we look attentive?)
We started out in the third “peloton”. It really wasn’t a peloton because less than ½ of us knew what we were doing. It was just a bunch of us leaving the starting spot together. Apparently there’s a rule about the fastest riders leaving first and the slowest riders leaving last…seems backwards to me, but nobody asked for my opinion on the matter. The ride was simple enough. South for about 7 miles on one road, turn around and take the same road north for 7 miles, ending where we’d begun. I crammed the map in the back pocket of my jacket. Didn’t think we’d need that much. Nathan noticed that the map had phone numbers on it also in case we needed to call someone in an emergency. I sent a quick prayer heavenward that that would not be necessary.
So, we headed south. It was so easy! We averaged around 14 mph and got up to 20 mph a few times. What a rush! We got down to the bottom of the ride for the rest stop (who needs a rest stop for a 14 mile ride??) and took a quick bathroom trip (me) and snack stop (Nathan). All refreshed we headed the bikes back north into a headwind that some people estimated was 12 mph. We shifted down. We shifted down again. We shifted down again. Nathan pulled in behind me to see if I blocked the wind from him any. Not much. And we plodded on. We averaged about 8 mph on the way back, but there were lots of times when my speedometer read 3 mph and 2 mph. It was really tough.
(Setting off)
When we finished we decided two things. First, we definitely deserved a Starbucks run. Second, there is no way any subsequent ride could be as grueling as this one had been…it’s not like we’re going to ride 182 miles in two days or anything!