Dark Mornings

We've had quite a run of awesome riding weather around here lately, but for me it's been a bit diminished by the dark mornings of daylight savings time. I always struggle to get out the door at 6 am on days (nights??)  like this, but when I stepped outside and felt the wind today I thought, "Well, at least we won't have to deal with the fog."  So with blinky lights blinking and west wind blowing, I puttered over to the levee to meet the group.  As we started out we could see more blinky white lights up the road, most of which soon joined the growing group as the pace crept ever so slowly higher. I reached out (those of us with small hands have to "reach out" a bit) with the fingers of both hands -  three clicks on the rear shifter, up to the 17; three clicks on the front to shove the chain onto the 53. I figured it was probably the last I'd see of the 17 for a while. There was a fairly strong wind blowing out of the west northwest, which at least meant we'd be spared most of the usual brutal crosswind sections.  Soon, though, as the pace ramped up higher and higher, little gaps started to open and the number of riders pulling at the front got smaller and smaller. Another click on the rear shifter. I dropped back after a pull and got back into the paceline somewhere behind the gatekeeper, and with the steady headwind I wasn't too inclined to do anything about that.  I was getting plenty enough exercise anyway, closing gaps and dealing with the constantly fluctuating speed.  Twelve miles out I turned off the headlight.  When we finally came to the turnaround out at Ormond, 19 or 20 miles from the start, I was surprised how much of the group was still there.

I'd been thinking that the ride back down the river would be easier because of the tailwinds.  As usual, I was wrong.  Once things got going again the pace was a couple mph faster than it had been before, and it was clear that a few of the guys, some of whom were on TT bikes, wanted more.  I came through at one point, holding the speed we'd been going before, and when I pulled off there was a gap behind me.  I eased up, but then someone came flying around me, then another, then another.  Suddenly there was a group of five or six about fifteen seconds up the road.  There was a brief and rather chaotic attempt to chase, but while the group up ahead was probably rolling along smoothly at 26-27 mph, our group was yo-yoing back and forth from 24 to 27, with gaps opening all over the place.  Needless to say, that dog won't hunt, and the gap continued to grow until all efforts to close it ceased.  Even so, I think our group split once again before we got back.  A couple of times I took a pull that I thought wasn't too hard, only to find when I pulled over that there was nobody behind me. Oh well.