I had nothing in the tank

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I was a bit quick to proclaim my recovery last week and say that I had gotten to the point where I had two days of riding in my legs and was working on getting three. After Monday and Wednesday I thought I could recover with one day off but today proved I couldn’t. I put in a easy flat 38 to 40 mile ride and expected to take it easy on the ride out and have a wind to my back screaming run back on Domenigoni with a tail wind heading to the east end. It didn’t work as I had planned. I got to the bike shop to see Digger and Earth Dog talking. At first it looked like we were the only ones riding till Papillion showed up. Next Barracuda arrived followed by Abacus, Ferret and Bulldozer. Now we had a group and were heading out to start the ride. At the point I was headed south to Acacia and noticed I felt pretty good but had absolutely no drive. I turned onto Acacia heading towards Kirby and felt slightly better but still there was no spin in my legs and it felt like the wind was slightly in my face. Still I managed to lead to Kirby and then to Cypress to head west towards Johnston.

By the time we got to Johnston and Sanderson I knew the ride west was going to be a hard one for me but I had hopes I would get stronger and get some assistance from the wind. Soafter we crossed Sanderson and got out to Cawston I took a turn at pulling towards Warren setting a pace I felt I could hold most of the way to Winchester. After I got to Warren Bulldozer took over and I fell in on his wheel. He pulled us to California and I stayed with him part way to Stowe. Then I decided chasing the group all the way to Winchester wasn’t going to work for me so I fell out of line and cruised to the Winchester Farms parking lot.

I took a short break with everyone else and informed Bulldozer and Barracuda that I was going to take it easy till we were heading east on Domenigoni. I did stay with the group all the way down Winchester and turned with them on the dump road. Digger stayed on Winchester and headed for Domenigoni and the rest of us headed for Leon on the dump road. After the first curve I fell off again and watched every0ne take off for Leon. I was just at the railroad tracks as the group was heading west on Simpson and they were out of sight as I got to Simpson myself. I was comfortable at 17 or 18 mph but not much more. On Simpson I got to maybe 20 but it took a lot out of me to get there. I found Abacus and Earth Dog waiting for me at Briggs and we rode together to Lindenburger where the rest of the group was waiting.

I started out pulling towards Domenigoni and Earth Dog took over just before we got to the traffic light. I got out onto Domenigoni first and was halfway to the top of the saddle before the group rolled past me. I pulled in behind Bulldozer and we dropped off of the saddle and headed towards Leon again. I stayed on their back wheel till we crossed Leon and Bulldozer was pulling it up to 23 plus when I figured there was simply no way I could hold on all the way to Winchester. Abacus fell back with me and we watched everyone else pull away. At that point I realized that it was going to be all I can do just to finish the ride and it was not going to be one of my better efforts. Abacus pulled me all the way to State Street where we joined Earth Dog and headed for Chambers. We worked our way to Buena Vista and then Santa Fe before going out onto Stetson and finding Ferret and the rest of the group waiting for us. Bulldozer had gone home so we headed straight east on Stetson.

As we got close to the high school Barracuda joined me and we cruised up the speed bump and headed for Fairview. I told him I should have brought the Peugeot because I would have done just as well pushing 53x20 all day. I got dropped bad on speed bump but Barracuda waited for me and we made our way to Fairview to join the group one last time before heading for Florida and the turn to Carl’s. I made a reasonable run north on Fairview but nothing to write home about and headed west at the light.

The light that wasn’t working I might add. We then headed to Carl’s and noticed they were closed. It seems as if the power was off for most of the east side of town. So we changed two flats and headed to Lincoln and the ride home. It was a chore for me to ride all the way back to the bike shop but I put my head down and made an effort of staying close to the group. I still got there last and headed into the shop for a well needed rest and something to eat and drink. I was exhausted and took my time before heading home for a shower and lunch. So to be clear, I am not up to the point where I can put in three days effort in one week yet. Wanting it to be true doesn’t make it true.