Memorial day ride

I planned on riding with Nate and Pears on Sunday....but my body had other plans and decided to complete a full purge. Enough about that...onto Memorial day.

I wanted to ride and any type would have been good for me. So I put out some feelers and my teammate DW said he was doing a Kal-Haven from Kalamazoo to Bloomingdale and back. That would be about 36 mile flattish ride on the old peat gravel rail trail. We picked up another rider in Brian. He has LJ100 in a few weeks, and needed some miles. Company is always better on a ride. 

We started at 7am, because forecast was saying mid 90's for a high. I was on The D.U.F.F., Brian on his FS Salsa, and DW on his FS salsa with Plus tires. We figured it would just be a cruise. In fact, we all stated "we are on mountain bikes so we are not riding fast".

We started off and I just found a comfortable pace to ride. DW dropped in behind me and Brian followed. I was comfortable with the pace...that was between 15 and 16mph. I want to say that is what we averaged the whole way to Bloomingdale. It was a solid pace the whole way there.

Then we headed back. Strangely enough I found a rhytm again and just pedaled until I heard DW say "hey, I hate to break your cadence but we need a bathroom break". To be honest, at this point I wasnt sure if they were with me or if I was riding alone. All flat and gravel means you just kind of cruise and hit your own pace, with the potential to leave people behind. I know I am not strong enough to do that, but I was holding a steady pace.

After the short break we were back at it and making the final climb up to Kalmazoo. I could feel my heart rate climbing, but I just kept chugging away. We rolled into the 10th street lot with an average of 14.3 mph for 36 miles. Solid. They both thanked me for leading the way and we went about our days.

Sunday a few of us are headed to Hanson Hills where I will do my best to imitate a fast rider. There is a lot of climbing so it doesn't suit me well, but turnout seems to be low so my chances of a higher finish are better.  Keep riding!