Strange Ride

A bit warmer and quite nice this morning. The clouds that have enveloped the area for the past three or four days have finally broken up and we can see the sun again, but it was hard getting out of bed for some reason. I lay there in the dark, my 10-minute "get out the door" window ticking away on the nightstand, contemplating my options. Perhaps I should listen to that little voice telling me to skip the long ride today. Finally, with just a few minutes to spare, I brushed the lazy thoughts away and headed for the bike, gulping down a cookie on the way.

I was a little overdressed and I knew it, but the biggest challenge for me this time of year is getting out the door and on the road, and if an extra jersey and arm-warmers will do the trick, that's just fine. They can always go into the pockets later. What you'll remember the next morning when you repeat this little routine isn't how warm you were at the end of your ride, but how cold you were for the first two miles. To coin a phrase (with apologies to Teddy), when dealing with Winter, "dress warmly but carry a big pocket."

There was a lower turnout for the popular Tuesday morning long ride than usual today, and for some reason I was in no mood to have my pace dictated by someone else. A few of us rolled along at the front slowly, maybe 21 mph or so. We had to stop for a second to let a line of dumptrucks cross the levee and one of the guys asked if we should wait up for the rest of the group. I looked back and said there was no need, they would be on us soon enough. It stayed together after that and the pace stayed fairly slow all the way to the turnaround. As we started on the return trip, there was this idea to do a smooth circular paceline at around 20 mph. Damn, but it got squirrelly. Robin remarked at one point that these guys get more squirrelly the slower they go, and he was right. Although there was a significant headwind, we would have done better at 22 mph. As it was, almost every time I would take one of those very short "circular paceline" type pulls, there would be this long delay before anyone would come through. Geez, I was only going like 21 mph.

It was like the whole pack had gone passive-aggressive on me.

Toward the end of the ride, it happened again to the guy who had been behind me as he took his pull and then pulled over, so I moved in to fill the gap and took another pull to keep the pace the same. Three or four of us immediately separated from the group and for the last mile or two finally achieved a smooth paceline. I dunno, I am usually pretty tolerant of inconsistent riding in the pack, but for some reason it really started getting to me this morning.

On another note, I see that the new movie "Pro" is now available. There have been a couple of articles - interviews actually - about it on The Daily Peloton, and I think I might just have to get me a copy. It's done by the same guys who did "The Hard Road." Anyway, for any of you with bike racing significant others, this would probably make a nice Christmas present!

Yes, Christmas is coming. Every year it reminds me of the elegantly written line from a Peter Dickenson novel:

"The threat of Christmas hung in the air, visible already in the fretful look of passersby as they readied themselves for the meaningless but necessary rites of false jovialities and ill-considered gifts. "

Not that I dislike the holidays, you understand, but I can relate.