No Prisoners

Judging by the riders who showed up for the northshore training ride, I was pretty sure they wouldn't be taking any prisoners this morning.  We had a fairly small group - maybe ten or so - but it looked like practically everyone who was there was there for the real deal. With the threat of rain hanging over our heads, both literally and figuratively, we headed out from the Lee Road Middle School, just north of Covington, for the standard 65 mile training ride.  The air was warm and really, really humid as we rode up toward Enon.  Although the pace wasn't particularly fast, it had that sort of unrelenting, determined feeling that sets a serious training ride apart from the more routine country rides.  I was feeling pretty good, but with Woody, Isaiah, John D., and a few others on hand to drive the pace, I figured I'd better not be reaching into the cookie jar too early on this one. After a brisk section along Choctaw Road, we arrived at Highway 10 missing one of John's teammates.  The group soft-pedaled for a little while while John and I looked back for him, but within a couple of minutes the statute of limitations ran out on him and, hoping that he knew his way home, we continued on. 

The next long section of this ride, from Hwy. 10 to Sie Jenkins Road, is always fast, and along the way there are a couple of sprints to keep things lively.  Despite a light tailwind, there were a few times along this stretch where it was all I could do to stay in the draft.  I was glad there were a few tall guys in the group providing a good draft.  All along this part of the ride, and for that matter all along most of the rest of the ride, there were occasional attacks on the little uphills.  After the sprint for the Enon sign, we stopped at the store to refuel.  By the time Woody walked out with a bottle of Gatorade in his hand, most of the group was already back on the road and heading for the watchtower hill, so we had to chase for a couple of miles to catch up.

The last five miles or so, along Tung Road, always seem hard to me.  It must be because it's always at the end of a long ride, because there aren't any significant hills along that stretch.  Today was no different.  Isaiah, Woody and John soon started challenging each other, and riders started dropping off the back. I was deep into wheelsucking practice, myself, taking a short pull every now and then, but mostly just hanging on.  Anyway, it was a good ride and I was glad that we somehow managed to avoid getting rained on.  When we got back to the parking lot I jumped into the car, and headed home with plenty of time to take a shower and make a 1:00 lunch at Landry's Seafood.