73.42 km

• Elevation Gain

  674 m

• Time

  3h 50m**

(including pep talks and tube changes)

Finally, today I felt strong on the bike. I had been having trouble not having energy when out for rides.  I was slow at the beginning, usually had a decent mid section, and was just beaten by the end.

Today was different.

• I had a good pace at the start and didn’t blow myself up.
• My breathing wasn’t ragged.
• I climbed pretty well.
• I had the speed when I needed it.
• I was in decent control of my bike.
• We had a big C group of really nice people.
• The group leader took breaks to do some coaching/mentoring
• We practiced our paceline skills.
  

  

  

Sadly, near the end, my tire started to go down and I lost contact with my group. If I had recognized this, I could have called them back to help me.  Sadly, I let them go thinking it was me getting tired again and since we were close to home, I could just limp it.

I cleaned up all my trash before I left the scene.

A little bit down the road, I found myself with a flat. This was particularly bad as I am not a good tire changer.  Luckily, two Newmarket Eagles (Pauline and Steve) stopped to help me even though they had done a long 100 km ride and were probably more knackered than I was.  I had gotten the tube out, but hadn’t checked the tire or the rim for things that could cause a leak (nails, glass, or other debris), and might have struggled getting the tired seated correctly.

Of course, the ride home from the incident was painfully slow. I had spent whatever energy I had left struggling with the tire change until they came along. I hope I haven’t bent my rim.

I’ve got a Notre Dame football game starting soon, so short and sweet this will have to be.