Saturday Triangle Ride

No other renegade was around today, despite the perfect weather, so I
hooked up with the 8:00 triangle group instead (I didn't feel up to
trying to hang with the 8:30 hammerheads). A large group showed up,
50-60 riders, including that scrawny teenager on a Cervélo I had seen
drop me once before (15 years old, I asked him).

I met a couple of guys I knew from before, Chris and Jack. Stitches
knows them well too. Chris alerted me about this group typically
breaking up after reaching Woodbury Road (a.k.a. "the wall") and
suggested I stick with him. Fortunately that turned out to be the
faster group, about 15-16 riders, much more manageable. The teen was
with us, a guy in baggy shorts riding a Lapierre, another guy with a
camelback and clip-on aero bars, no women in sight. The leaders of
this group did a great job of controlling the speed in order to keep
us all together for the long haul.

We turned onto Sunnyside and did a variation of the West Hills route.
From 108 we turned onto Stillwell, straight onto Muttontown, right on
Brookville, right at white church, left at Chicken Valley and back to
the LIE.

The pace was very easy in the beginning, everyone still just warming
up, though at every rise in the road, predictably, there were those
(including myself) who would push the needle into the red. What's a
guy to do but try and hang with the group? Over the course of the ride
the overall pace kept steadily increasing, finishing up with an actual
sprint race from Lakeville to Little Neck.

Apparently these guys like to form impromptu teams around the
strongest sprinters, with pullers, lead-outs and tactics. Chris asked
me to pull for him. Of course, this being my first time as a sprint
team member, I screwed up, despite my best intentions. I spent too
long in the wind when I should have been taking cover and I waited too
long before starting the final push. By the time the final push came I
didn't have anything left. What do I know? I never raced like this
before. I just try to hang as long as I can.

In the end I rode 48 miles and my average was about 18.5. Not bad,
considering I'm not in my top form. It helps to ride with a sizable
fast group.

Hey, I'd do this again. It's also nice to sleep that extra hour. 8:00
again tomorrow, triangle or no triangle. Now that it's not too hot,
there's no reason to start at 7:00.

Beast