Two Wheel Blogs

I guess sometimes that line gets blurry. Last night I rode with a group and it felt a lot more like a race than a ride.

It is not like I have a great deal of experience with road races and criteriums, but last night must have been a reasonable facsimile for all in our group. I guess the fact that there were only four of us is one major difference, but the pace, attacks, and intermediate sprints seemed spot on.

The route was a typical route for Wednesday night (30 miles and about 700 feet of climbing). Last night the pace was about 20 miles per hour (including the 6 mile neutral roll out/warm up) with attacks on every other hill, numerous intermediate sprints, and no talking.

I love to do all sorts of riding, but sprinting sure is a lot of fun. This is not to say that I think I am particularly great at the discipline, but I really enjoy the effort it requires. Last night was a blast in this regard. I got outmaneuvered on 3 sprints and while I felt exceptionally strong, Jason rode the smarter game and edged me out every time.

I was reading a review on a couple of frames the other day trying to decide which one I should lust over (I certainly will not buy another road frame anytime soon, but what is the harm in mentally building a dream bike). The writer said that in order to decide between the two frames a person should answer the question, "are you a racer that loves to ride, or a rider that occasionally races?".

I hate to admit this to myself, but I am the last one. I love to ride, and I occasionally race. I see no reason why we can not treat some of these rides like a race once in a while though.