Hell Week Day 2 - LBJ Ramble

Distance: 93 miles
Time: 5:15:10
Speed: 18.0 mph

I didn't sleep well last night and more or less napped from 2am until the alarm went off at 7am. Never the less I rolled out and felt pretty good from the start. Tom mentioned regrouping at RT 290, mile marker 25, so when a group formed and broke away early I jumped into the main pack and rode hard. I moved myself to the front of the pack and helped push the pace until we reached a main road. I slid back in the pack at that point and saw some questionable riding... but turned off at Gellerman Ln to stay on the A route while almost the entire pack (save for 10 riders) continued straight on the shorter B route.

I rode with the splinter group for another few miles but tired of the pace line antics of several triathletes and decided to drop back and take it easy to recover my legs. Once I reached 290 I relaxed and waited only a couple minutes for Tom, Gary, Dave and Brent to arrive.

The A route took us on a nice tour of the area, but was plagued by strong crosswinds and headwinds for the duration of the ride.

Dave dropped back early as his native New Jersey does not suffer the same allergens as Texas and he was having a hard time breathing. The four of us soldiered on and made good time despite the wind. Gary was hurting as well and would eventually drop back a bit, then solo in on a slightly shorter route. With only three of us left to finish the route Tom, Brent and I rode steadily and maintained a good pace in the wind.

All in all it was a good day and we had a nice ride. We did get the distinct feeling that although there was a sizable (8 riders) group ahead of us, we were the only people to ride through many of the areas. Generally you see signs of people along the way (shelled riders, debris, people on the horizon) but we saw no traces throughout the ride and weren't sure if perhaps they'd cut the route short.

Either way we had a great ride and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I'm looking forward to the remainder of the week and am very happy with me form on the bike. I had some lower back pain and slight knee pain (lower left knee, on the tendon) and am thinking it was brought on by torquing a bit too hard when climbing.

Hell Week Day 3 -->