Being a humble cyclist....

I ride my bike for several reasons, I like to ride, I use my bike to go places, I have friends that ride, and riding is good exercise. Recently, I seem to have found my place as a cyclist a bit more humble. Someone has opened the doors at the zoo and let the "Hammer Monkeys" loose. They are attempting to turn my leisure into work, and defeating the ultimate purpose of bicycling, recreation. So, what are "Hammer Monkeys", you might ask? These folks believe every ride is a race!

My wife and I planned a trip to visit a friend out of state. I had hoped to do a charity ride, but the planner did return my email, as a result I decided to contact the local cycle club for a ride. Yes, I found a group going out on a 50 miler. That's about a 3.125 hour ride for me, under normal circumstances, averaging 16 mph, and taking into account the hills, I guessed a 4 hour ride, with breaks.

I suspected there would be several groups on the route spread out based on speed and ability. My problem was that everything I thought would happen on this ride did not, except for the fact that we left the lot all at the same time.

The countryside was beautiful, the land was mostly forest with a few farms and homes scattered amongst the trees. The first third of the ride was quite good with rolling hills, the 16-18 mph pace seemed OK. That's when the ride changed. We came up on the hills, and I was fine on about the first 3 or 4. I didn't realize that's when the "Hammer Monkeys" would pull out the stops and really start to push. I began to fade at about the time the rest of the group began to hit it. There were plenty more hills as well.

I knew I was going to drop before it even happen. I got dropped like a brick off of a roof. My 'ol legs just couldn't keep that pace on the hills. I thought the group would spread out. They did not. I set my pace back to recovery mode, and took it easy for a while, hitting 16-18 on the flats. I pulled out the cue sheet and my GPS and enjoyed the rest of the ride by myself. Now, I suppose I can be a more humble rider, as I should be and think about how smart I am for riding with a hand-held GPS.