Wheeeew. What a weekend. In summary I logged just about 100 miles between Saturday & Sunday.
Saturday was another group ride with the Folsom Cycling Group. We did the "Disco Park" ride from Folsom down to Discovery Park and back, all on the American River Bike Trail. I didn't know what to expect from this primarily flat ride. It was indeed 58 miles though, and turned out to be alot harder than I thought. I was joined on this ride by Chris & Erik (who is recently fired up to ride his road bike again after a short visit to France last month to watch a couple stages of Le Tour!) When the group started out there were about 18 riders which quickly broke up into 2 groups (fast & not as fast). We were just handing in the not as fast group for a while, then I waited for the time to be just right and launched off the back. I wasn't able to close the gap up to the fast group, but Erik and Chris jumped on my wheel and we formed our own group in between the others. Quick break at Goethe Park, then things got kinda crazy. This is a multi-use trail, and it was indeed being used. There were tons of hikers, joggers, roller bladers, strollers, dogs, kids etc. So you had to be really, really careful. At one point it seemed as though there was some sort of jogging club or event as we weaved in and out of the mayhem. Some people run on the right side of the trail facing oncoming bikes, while others run the same direction as bikes on both sides of the trail. When you're cruising along at 18-20 mph on your bike it's a little sketchy at times. Quick break at Discovery Park, front tube change, mine was leaky, then back on the trail. Erik and I battled it out a bit on the way home pushing the speeds up to 22-23 at times, and it was hard to keep that pace let me tell you. Average for the day was 18.1 - which doesn't seem that fast, but it was alot of work. Overall fun ride, but I'll likely not ride with the big groups on the bike trail again. It's more fun to me to head out on the country roads and get in some good climbing. I know it's good to mix in some flat riding, but I really love the hills!
On Sunday I headed out for a short 1 hour recovery ride, but ended up doing 40 miles with a nice little jaunt through the foothils up to Auburn and back. Here is a map of the route I took on Sunday: http://tinyurl.com/9e2tc It was just one of those days where I thouhgt I would barely be able to ride for 1 hour, but then felt strong and just kept going.. I stopped in at the Newcastle Market for a big Gatorade & a PowerBar before climbing Indian Hill Rd. Fun, fast descent as usual down Auburn Folsom Rd. without any cars again! Score.
