Hi all, well I just got back from vacation in Florida. I am still in training for my half iron-man so I arranged to travel down with my bike so I could get in a long ride. I found a local riding group that met up about 30 minutes from where I was staying. Apparently, in these groups there are 3 levels called A, B, and C groups. The A group is the fastest at close to 30 mph on average and they get slower from there. Although none of them are slow LOL. I had no idea what the group abilities would be when I showed up. Turns out, way faster then I imagined. The C group goes an average of 20 mph!!! I've never gone that fast without the help of a downhill :). One C group member there was convinced I could do it anyways, even offered to stay with me if I needed it. Gosh bike culture is something else! In any case as I talked to other folks there it came out that there was a new group started, a D group, that goes an average of 18 mph. I was really nervous about that, too, but then I found out that group had a "no drop" policy, which means they won't take off and leave you. There must be a big bike culture there, because out of the 100 (!!) or so people that showed up there were only 10 of us in the D group.
We set off on the ride with twists and turns through the neighborhoods. I was very relieved there was a no drop policy because I was lost before the first 5 minutes were up. We rode along some major roads, which happened to be where I dropped one of my two water bottles. Oops! It rolled out into traffic and I knew there was no way I was getting it back, although one of the other riders offered to retrieve it--bike culture is so supportive. Luckily I had another bottle, and the D group (along with the C group) has a policy of taking a break half way through their ride so I knew I could at least top off my other bottle. We stopped at a 7-11 after about 20 miles, everyone was eating a snack. Did I find the right group or what?? The funny thing is no one was eating those sugar gels, they all had substantial snacks of these giant oat bars and what not. I felt right at home eating my yam cakes :).
We continued on and I was still keeping up with the group. Flat Florida makes for a great biking situation! I only fell behind twice, once when we hit a big overpass, and I promptly caught up, and another time on a big straight away when the group decided to sprint for fun. I sped up to 22 mph, but sprinting?? Not if you expect me to finish 40 miles LOL. I learned a lot of new things on this ride about riding in groups. There's all sorts of hand signals about slowing down and stopping, as well as pointing out glass or potholes for riders behind you to see. These things are important because you travel very packed in and you can't see ahead, so you really have to bond as a group and trust the people in the front to give you information. I'm betting this is part of what makes bike culture so special. I saw all sorts of things on my ride, armodillo, snakes, buzzards, beautiful neighborhoods, and almost all the drivers were really nice. It helps to travel in packs, the cars seem to leave bikers alone more. Overall, riding with strangers--these strangers--was really great!
When I finished my ride I went right to my extra water I keep handy post ride. I was really glad to have it because it was 11am when we finished and that one water bottle didn't make it the whole trip. Had more yam cakes and headed home for a post workout meal (scrambled eggs, brown rice cereal, coconut water, and plantains--hey, when in Rome/Florida....LOL).
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