“Ride #123: Short and Flat”

Last year my 123rd ride was on December 28th, and was my last of the year. Pretty cool, especially considering that by mid-season I was behind last year's rides by a large margin.

Unfortunately, that was (almost) the only cool thing about this ride.

After the eighty on Friday, my legs were very sore all weekend. I really don't know why... I may have been a little dehydrated (since I'd ridden both of the days before the Plymouth ride, also). Anyway, I took the weekend off.

When I went out Monday it was already late, so I only had time for 20 miles. I took off like a rocket, and averaged 24.3 mph after the first five miles. Seriously. Downtown Mystic dropped my average all the way to 21.6 (oy!) but I was back up to 22.1 mph at my 10-mile-turnaround. Unfortunately, traffic was bad and I had to crawl for a little while as I waited for an opening. This brought my average back down to 21.6 again.

At eighteen miles I was still hovering at aproximately 18.6. It was getting dark, just a small sliver of the sun could be seen over the horizon, through the trees. I was really pushing it, and still wearing my shades just to keep the wind out of my eyes.

Bang pssssssssssssssssssssssst. Silence.

A big rock in the road stole all of my rear tire's air, all at once.

The ride ended with a 1.5 mile walk home in bare feet and darkness. Yee haw. (My neighbor pulled up next to me just 1/4 mile from the house, didn't recognize me, and asked if I "needed a hand." Offer appreciated, but it was a nice evening for a walk and I was almost home.)

Stats: 18.66 miles (30.04 km) in 51' 52" for an average speed of 21.58 mph (34.75 kph).

On the plus side, this is my eighth ride this year at better than 21 mph!