I joined Bud for the Texas Wheels ride tonight. The idea is to get ~30 miles done before dark. There were probably 12 of us I guess, includng RAAM competitor Mark Metcalf.
We started down Lake Ridge doing a nice, comfy 22-23mph. I'm hanging out at the back of the pack and Bud is in the middle. Just as I decide to move up a few notches we get to a narrow stretch and go single file, so I figure I'll wait before I make my move.
So, I'm looking out at the water and generally lollygagging with the comfy pace and when I look back, the pack is 30 yards ahead of me. Crap! They had kicked it up to 25-26mph. I gear up and hit 26-27 and start to gain some ground, then I get cut off by a car, which scared the crap out of me and I stopped pedalling. Had to downshift and by the time I got back up to speed, the pack was nearl a 1/4 mile ahead of me.
Bud and the pack had dropped me like it was their JOB.
I tried to catch up but we hit a set of pretty tough hills and I lost sight of them. The scope of these hills were exactly like Cattle Baron road in Aledo, just a tiny bit shorter. I didn't know Ceder Hill has hills that serious. Since I had no idea what the route was, I eventually turned around ot try and catch another guy we had all dropped early on. I found him and continued on with him until he flatted and since it was getting dark and he was good I put the hammer down to get back to the marina before dark.
Final result 32 miles at 17.5mph. definately my fastest average on the p-38. The paceline's average was 21.75
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Geez I need the lowracer back in a bad way!