After another week of hard training and sprinkling in a few 5:00 am rides, my fitness finally feels like it is getting somewhere. While there have been a few rides that have revealed some glimmer of my old form, not until today did I realize the benefit of my training. And today I saw the benefits in a huge way.

Today I showed up at the 7:30 ride and there was a fairly large crowd. Larger than previous Saturdays I have seen. While the group was not full of Category 1’s and 2’s, I respect the fitness level of the group. For nearly the entire ride I hovered near what I felt was the safest spot in the pack. Some of these riders I do not know, therefore I am apprehensive about overlapping wheels or putting myself in situations where I put trust in too many others. From previous experience, I realize that the wrong move can send me to the ground. With the way our business is going, I simply ride far more conservative. While I was not in the front driving the pace, I was purposely not sheltered much by the wind allowing me to find safety by always staying in a position that would give adequate escape in the event of a crash

To my surprise, the first hill was completely effortless. Even though the field did not seem to be overly anxious to attack, I have struggles every time I have ever attempted to go uphill since my return to the bike. Even late in the ride, I had a very “light” feeling as I would go uphill. Even in the event of a surge, I was able to respond without having to go to the well. For this advance in my performance, I give complete credit to my training at Shook Hill. That silly hill that I see some thirty or more times per week is paying off huge.

Late in the ride, I had found myself in the lead group. During the ride there were a few instances that I needed to leapfrog across gaps to stay in the lead group, but this too was relatively easy to accomplish. Realizing that we would be nearing the final sprint in less than twenty minutes, I asked my friend Bill if he was up for a “lead out.” For those who do not know what a “lead out” is, this is basically when the pack is in anticipation of the completion of a race, a grand finale, in which the speed increases culminating in a mad dash to the end. The “lead out” comes in when a team member leads another team member through a safe and sheltered path towards the finish. The person giving the “lead out” is responsible for keeping the pace very quick and letting the other take shelter in the slip stream. The person taking draft from the “lead out” man builds momentum and then rockets around the “lead out” man in one final acceleration to the finish.

So, the end came soon, and I remembered that since Bill was my teammate before, I remembered he was pretty good at grabbing a wheel and dashing the final sprint if given the proper lead out. In the last mile of the ride, an attack was made and I went with it, knowing that Bill was with me. The pace slowed a bit with nearly 1000 meters to the finish. One more attack was made and this set us up perfectly. We bridged the gap easily and the wind up began. I am not yet using a speedometer, but my guess is that we were in the low to mid thirties. With a couple of hundred meters to go, Bill came around me and easily finished first in the sprint. To my surprise, I looked back and we had quite a distance out paced the others.

Now, I say this not to discredit the other riders in any way. In fact, There were many that rode very well and aggressively at the front the entire way. Today was a bit of a chess match for me today. More of an experiment than anything. To protect myself from harms way, to ride within myself, to maintain my form and to finish strong. While I am certain that others are stronger today, if things keep going the way they are heading, my fitness will be better in due time. It’s all about persistence. While my training methods may seem different, they have worked before and they are beginning to work now.