Draggin' Arse

I'm guessing I should have gone easier on Monday because today I felt like I was dragging an anchor on the morning training ride. Then again, maybe it's just all of that Easter candy that I can't seem to walk past without sampling.

There was a pretty big group up on the levee today, and despite the fog, which was surprisingly thick in some spots, the pace was fairly fast. Early on I recognized that I was not firing on all cylinders, so I dropped to the back of the long line to sit in the draft of VJ who was on his TT bike trying to stay out of trouble. It wasn't entirely relaxing because the combination of a long string of riders and the fog made for a choppy pace, but it was OK.

On the way out after one of the many "rider up" calls from up front I saw Howard come past the group from the opposite direction, preparing to make a U-turn so he could join the group. The pace at the time was maybe 25 mph, and when he did VJ and Tim eased up a bit to help him latch on. As I coasted past VJ, I looked up to see the gap between the back of the group and me growing at an alarming rate. Somebody had just put the hammer down and just as Howard was making his turn, the group accelerated to around 30 mph. Geez! Alarm bells started going off in my head. So I try to accelerate gradually to close the gap and look down at the computer to see 28 mph on the screen. Then I look up to see that I'm still losing ground. Behind me, Tim, VJ and Howard are just getting organized. There's no way I'm going to make this bridge on my own, so I ease up a bit to wait for help. Just as I do, the trio comes blasting past me about 5 mph faster and I miss the draft. I had to get out of the saddle, sprint, and then bury myself for a while at 31 mph before I finally caught. Well, after that it was a cinch I wasn't going to be showing myself at the front! For the rest of the ride the pace would occasionally surge up into the 30s, usually when Howard would hit the front. I was staying near the back putting in quite enough effort just dealing with the erratic pace back there. So anyway, I'm thinking tomorrow should be an easy day for me because something is definitely not right.