Walking pays off

Today we took our mileage up to 45 miles which is an all time high for me. We had 8 riders in our group today with a two newish people joining in. Both were absent last week but had ridden with us before. The pace line was a little choppy this week as we all continued to get used to riding with each other. Some of the riders were uncomfortable being so close to the person ahead to be able to draft effectively so we had a problem staying tight in a group. This is pretty bad because we end up with a gap between sets of riders and waste a lot of energy since there are now essentially two pace leaders.

The route was pretty much the same as last week starting in Carlsbad and riding South into San Diego and then turning around and coming back.

Check it out:













We did Torrey Pines one more time today and once again, I was very strong and passed all the other riders in my group to finish first again. Speaking later to Christine, she had a similar experience where as soon as she hit the incline she was able to separate from and pass from the rest of her group. We both have really strong legs and a lot of endurance from our time on the walk team.

We spent the last 10 miles rotating riders in the pace line. The leader would drop back and once they were "on" the back of the line, the new leader would set the pace for about 30 seconds before dropping back. Repeat. It was very good practice.

I'm really looking forward to next week's ride. I hope we do 50-miles.