Home Again

For our last day in Fredericksburg, we decided to join in on a group ride. Technically, I voted for the group ride, Paul would rather have done a recovery ride after 3 hard days of training. But once we rolled out of town, he was smiling. I did notice that he stayed in his small chaining for the entire 50+ miles.

The guys were mostly transplants from colder climates who either had relocated to Fredericksburg or spent the winter there. All were athletic and a couple we age group racers. The leader, Tom was the guy who offered to provide a map so that we could find our way home when we got dropped. I thought we'd be ok.

We kept a spirited pace for most of the day and the original group of 10 soon became 6. At the end of the day, it was probably more than we needed, but just what I wanted. Good tempo with a couple of accelerations on the hills. Definitely our easiest ride of the week.

We checked out of the hotel at noon and rode for an hour before meeting them at 1:00 and then finished off just after 4:00. After a 5 minute PTA bath (Pits, Tits, and Ass) we filled the truck with petro and grabbed a quick protein shake at the local ice cream shop and were on the road by 4:20.

Being an anethstitist (sp?), Paul is used to staying awake for long stretches. He said "diving straight through is like doing an overnight liver transplant. He ended up driving for 15 of the 16 hours home. I never could fall asleep and had one bout of cramps with left a bruise in my right adductor today.

During one the fuel stops at about 2:00 am in the middle of nowhere Texas, we locked our keys in the car and thought we were up a shit crick. Fortunately my new Silverado came equipped with OnStar and after a panicky 2 minute call, the door locks magically clicked and were on our way again.

We rolled into my house at 8:15am and the Paul got into his car and drove 2 more hours to Iowa City.

We got in around 300 miles in 4 days of riding. The roads in Fredericksburg are outstanding. The only thing Texas is lacking are the 200 pro's dong their spring training camps. You can't beat the Tucson Shootout and the Tuesday Gates pass ride for getting race ready.

My legs feel like logs today. Time for a little R&R.

I've raced with and against Steve Tilford for many years, although I've never met him off the bike. I sure enjoy his blog and feel like I know him from following it. He recently won the CX National Championship and this past weekend also won CX Worlds. If you happen to check into my blog from time to time Steve, congratulations! You are an inspiration to us 50+ guys everywhere.