Rode down for the Saturday Triumverate of group rides this AM. I Was interested to see if 1) My legs would show up, and 2) I'm officially over this flu thing. Shorts answers - 1) Yes and 2) Yes.

These are great rides with everyone from Cat 1 racers to Cat 5 wanna-bes, and everything in between. No two of these rides are exactly alike, but one thing is for sure - you can go as fast as you want for as long as you would ever want to. After totally self-combusting on too many of these, I always go there telling myself over and over to behave. Just mind your own business, find a good wheel to hang on too, save your energy, watch your position, etc. etc. blah blah blah yada yada yada. BE ATTENTIVE (as Paul Sherwin would say). Especially just getting over being sick I wanted to go easy. Today I confirmed that that just isn't possible. Somehow I always tend to be in the position of bridging. I dunno why, it just happens. And, like all bridges , once its done, people just trample on it. So it is, so it will be. It was a great day to ride and I did feel fine, maybe not 100%, but much better than the last 2 or 3 days. Here we are rolling out early in the morning on the first of 3 loops:

Now on a quick glance it looks like just a big group of riders easing into a good ride. BUT, if you were ATTENTIVE, like Paul says you should be, you'd of seen (click these photos to enlarge ) :

JimD doin' like diesels do and powering away from the start. At this point only the dude with the suitcase had the drive and wherewithall to try and cover this break. It was the first time I can remember seeing him or his suitcase on one of these rides, but he's certainly not afraid to chase. Like me this dude learned the wrath of the peloton early and cracked hard as we reeled him in. He did pretty well for a first timer and if he just had a rear rack to mount that suitcase on I think he'd last a good bit longer.

RideOn,

JB

Oh - The USA Cycling Festival is scheduled for July 5-17 in 7Springs Pa