Crazy Weekend on the Bike

Got up Saturday morning - had a great breakfast, got hydrated and was ready to go for a challenging 90 min ride through Reading, Wilmington, Andover and North Andover. Only about 2 miles in I was racing to beat a green light at an intersection and Wham! I hit a pot hole and flattened my front tire. So I pulled into the gas station and began changing the tube. Got everything all set and then when I went to pump it up using the CO2 cartridge, I noticed that the cartridge the bike store sold me did not exactly fit the CO2 pump they sold me, so now I'm stuck! I called Jamie, who I knew was at the gym and probably just got there, so no luck, called Oscar and he was in Wakefield and would be able to pick me up in about 20-30 min. So as I was waiting two other cyclists rode by and asked if I needed any help. They luckily had a pump on them and then asked me to join them on their ride. So we went for a 29 mile ride through Andover and then back to Reading. Tom and Naomi, a husband and wife who live in Reading right around the corner from us, have been riding for quite a while and they kept a great pace. As we were wrapping up the trip Tom mentioned to me that he was going for a longer ride tomorrow with one of his buddies and asked if I wanted to join. I figured I was supposed to do my long ride on Sunday anyway, so why not.

So I get up Sunday morning all jazzed up to join a couple of new cycling friends and ride over to meet Tom and his buddy Tom (not the juice guys) at his house around the corner. He showed me the map of the route they were planning to do and it was an aggressive 60 mile course to Ipswich and back. As the morning wore on I began to learn more about their cycling abilities - like they both have been riding for years and years, Tom in Reading leads group rides on a weekly basis and is competing in a century (100 mile race) pretty soon. Their pace was absolutely grueling, the wind was gusting at 30 mph in your face down by the water. I was struggling to keep up with these freaks on wheels!!! So after a much longer trip than I expected, I finally made it back home, but a lot later that I originally thought to help Jamie get everything ready for Mother's Day as we were hosting everybody at our house. Sorry Jamie;o) I ended up burning 2375 calories on the trek and drank 5 gatorades over the course of the day yesterday.

As a side note, just got an email from Tom this morning asking if I wanted to join him on a century training ride this coming Sunday and if I want to join the North Shore Cycling Club rides they have in the early evenings. I think I'll pass on this century ride, but will probably start to do some of the club rides with the gang.