Two Hours of Power

Saturday morning I dragged myself out of bed and headed over to Sunshine Cycle Shop for the morning Hour of Power. Having not ridden last week except for Thursday night, I was curious to see what would happen. For sure, I wasn't going to push it early.

There were about 9 to 10 of us starting out and it started out slow. Normally, I want to get up and go, but I was thankful to sit back and take it easy. It stayed that way until our normal first sprint point on Tanner.

When the pace picked up, I just slid to the back. If I was going to try something during this ride, it certainly wasn't going to be now! We turned onto Meece Bridge and I was starting to feel -- as they say -- "froggy."

It takes a little while to work up to the place where we begin the attacks. I determined to play this one smart. So, I read the group around me and knew I could sit in and take my chances.

Then I noticed Art trying to go off the front. At first I stayed in and let him create a gap. I knew there was a lot of wind and as you begin to line up on Meece Bridge you get hit with it in the face. That would probably slow him down.

As we started the last 100 yards to the normal sprint zone Tony started coming around. Now I had two players that could give me trouble. I decided to use Tony to help bring me up to Art.

Sure enough Tony amped it up and we were moving. I waited and waited until the finish line came into view down the long straight away. At that point I jumped and didn't look back until I neared the line. Glancing beneath my arm, I realized that basically I had sprinted the distance alone.

Wow! It felt good.

From there the normal Saturday ride changed. We started taking roads I had not taken before. Frankly, I would love to do that more often! There was some great scenery and the roads were awesom with little traffic.

All the variations in routes brought us back to a normal sprint point -- the race for the entry of Paris Mountain State Park. Things started going wrong real fast. Doug and Web went off real early. Then Tony started off... He was determined to be my thorn on this ride!

I told myself to be patient. In this case, that was the wrong thing to do. I thought there would be some people who would start out after him. As time passed, it looked like Tony was just going to get away.

Then Art went flying by. I thought for just a second. Nothing ventured... Nothing gained... I jumped on Art's wheel and wondered if we just might be able to catch Tony on the final climb.

Then Art slowed. I launched on around him. Tony actually seemed to be coming back to me just a little. I knew that even if I caught him, it would be nearly impossible to beat him. I would have expended too much just getting up to him.

It was then I noticed that John had gotten on my wheel as I led the attack to bring Tony back. While I might not be able to beat him, perhaps I had led John up enough that he could take him. If you can't win, second best is to give a good lead out.

Then I blew it! When I had glaced back, I had noticed his wheel to my left -- even though we were near the left side of the road. I made a move to the right to let him by. As soon as I made the move, I knew I had done the wrong thing.

By moving to the right I actually cut off his line and broke his momentum. At that point, it was all Tony. I should have gone much earlier and just hugged his wheel until we kicked up the final climb. Oh well, you ride and you learn.

Nature trail was pretty much the same. Tony took off and this time I stayed near his rear. Problem was my lack of stamina was starting to get to me here near the end of the ride.

Still, it was so near the end, I wanted to give it my best. So, when I saw John start around my left and Tony slow in front of me, I dug in. Here I was in the front! I heard John say, "You've got it Pait." Then I heard all kinds of noise as someone was trying to find a gear.

I didn't quit, but I didn't push quite as hard either. Then I saw Tony come up on my right! I tried to react, but as we passed the first man hole cover Tony was in the lead. As we passed the second man hole cover, I was in the lead. Guess it all comes down to which cover is the right one...

Again, great ride. I'm glad I have it stored in my Garmin Edge 705. I'll probably take that ride again. We had about a ride of about 35 miles over a two hour period. Guess it was more of a Hours of Power ride...