A hill too far

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Many will tell you I may not know my limits but I tend to test my limits either for the good or the bad. Today might be just such a test. My longest ride to this point after my surgery has been Monday. That ride lasted 23miles and just over an hour and a half. Today I plugged in a 38 mile ride with two or three little climbs in it just to see if I could stay with the group. I got to Burger King not knowing just who that group might be. My hope was to see if I could do the whole ride but I didn’t want to hold up the group in doing so. I got to Berger King in time to see Digger and Dragon Slayer talking. We visited till Highlander and Earth Dog arrived and then spent less than five minutes waiting before heading out onto Gilmore and pointed towards Acacia. It was still pretty cold, at least for me, as we got to Acacia and headed west. There was more traffic than I had expected but as I said I haven’t been riding much since October. We all caught the light at Kirby and had to wait before we could head south towards the railroad tracks.

It seems strange to not be pulling the group even as we moved towards Cypress. Just the effort of taking pictures puts be in the back of the group and it is all I can do to catch back up and work my way into a good drafting position. I was too far back to work my way up to Dragon Slayer and Highlander but I did hook onto Digger and Earth Dog. We worked our way over to Johnston and across Sanderson to get to Industry and work our way to Cawston. Highlander took us onto Stetson and we headed for the airport. As we crossed Warren we picked up MacGyver and headed for California Street. I did my best to stay with everyone but it seemed had to hold on. I am simply not used to pushing into a head wind and my legs aren’t used to pushing for more than 30 minutes anyway. But I did stay with them as we turned onto California and was still with them as we got to Stowe. Dragon Slayer and MacGyver led us all the way to Winchester and we stopped to catch our, read my breath, before continuing on with the ride.

After we were rested a bit Dragon Slayer, Earth Dog and MacGyver took us south again, this time into the wind and pilled us all the way to the dump road. After as turned west Earth Dog sort of took off on us but the rest of the group held back for me and pulled me west with them. We passed the Wild West Arena and up the little rise towards Leon. We knew I was fading a bit already so we didn’t got to Briggs and north to Mapes but rather took Leon to Simpson and headed back to Briggs and then north to McCall. Earth Dog took us to Heritage and we finally caught up to him at Menifee. The back side of McCall has always been a test for me and I was interested to see how today went. I hit the hill well and was riding next to MacGyver. I began to tire rather quickly and MacGyver mentioned I was in my big ring. A shift into the small ring made my life much easier and I made it to the top and was at least not the last one up. We dropped down the front side of McCall and I was able to get uo to just over 30 mph but I had little or no spin getting me there. We all caught the next two lights and made it to the Gas Station for a regroup before heading in.

We had already cut the rode short but we agreed to shorten it again by turning on Murrieta and heading south to Newport. By this time I was starting to tire and we were almost at the point where I had in as many miles and I had for the whole ride Monday. We were also once again heading into the wind and I was struggling just to hold on. I did hold on however and made it to Newport with the group. we separated a bit heading to Haun and Digger led us over the overpass and into the parking lot at Jack in the Box. I was allowed to rest and rehydrate for about 20 minutes before we were back on the road heading east on Newport with a quartering wind. I was fine as we crossed Antelope but started to fade a bit by the time we got to Menifee. By now the group had the shepherd me a bit like an old elephant as we got close to the Saddle. I hit the saddle well but by the time I crested I was almost out of energy. I had forgotten to bring anything to eat because I was out of practice and so my energy store was almost gone when we got to Leon. Now drafting had become imperative and I followed Dragon Slayer and MacGyver all the way to Winchester. We had one short stop while Highlander fixed a flat while Digger and Earth Dog left a bit early because they were getting a chill. MacGyver and Dragon Slayer pulled away from Highlander and I so they could attempt a PR on California. Highlander pulled me to Stowe and then to California where my tank was running on red. Highlander was concerned enough than he pulled me to Warren where we picked up Dragon Slayer and got back to Cawston and finally to Sanderson where Dragon Slayer left us and Highlander escorted me back to my neighborhood. I had errands to run so I took a hot Shower and had lunch to refuel plus hydrate some more while feeling more or less exhausted. I will stay with it but I may have to work my way back slower than I thought if I have any hope of making half of the TDPS on the 23rd.