“Ride #64: Best Hilly Half Century”

This was my best hilly half century of the season. Wow, that sounds silly when I say it like that, there are so many qualifications... but it's still true.

There were only four of us today, which was a little disappointing. Even Rick wasn't there, as he recently rode a big mountain bike ride out in Colorado and needs a week or two to recover (I'm told he came in 40-something out of over 600). Still, with there being fewer people, I had a chance to talk with them a little more than normal.

What I thought was going to be the best news of the ride was that they never dropped me. I've been working for this all year, and I stayed with them right up to the side street they take for the first hill. I couldn't imagine trying to keep up with these guys on 'Insanity Hill' (they told me the real name, but now I've forgotten), so I took my regular route and figured they'd probably catch me eventually.

They did catch me, but not on Wyassup like they usually do... we were all the way back over on 201 again when they finally started yelling to me. Somewhere along the way they'd dropped one, and all that was left was Shawn (from the Mystic Cycle team) and the guy who rode RAGBRAI this year but whose name I don't know.

I stayed with them for the rest of the ride, and this is where it gets really nifty. They told me that they'd been talking about me, and were really impressed with how much I've improved this year, and wanted to know why I was still riding that old bike, and they both said they'd like to see me do that "Route 1 Time Trial with a good bike next year.

I have no idea what ride they're talking about, but the rest of it all sounded good to me. :-)

If there's such a thing as success with a hobby (I think there is)... well, that's what this feels like.

Stats: 48.91 miles (78.74 km) in 158' 52" for an average speed of 18.47 mph (29.74 kph).