Temporarily a B Group Rider

In case you all are wondering I have not been holding out regarding writing about my cycling, I simply haven't been riding. I needed to jump back into it and last night with Back Bay Cycles seemed like as a good a time as ever.

This is a ride with some serious climbing (even Crit puts it in the small ring) which as we all know is not my strong suit. The only saving grace for me is they wait at the end of the 2 largest hills.

I arrived nice and early and got everything situated, even had Crit change my skewer on my front tire to attempt too diagnose the rub that has been happening. We have determined it was a combination of the skewer and my needing new bearings. The skewer did solve most of the issue though.

10 minutes before we are to leave my bike is leaned up against my car and all of the sudden my bike starts shaking, or actually it was my car that was shaking!

Somehow the lady in the minivan parked in front of me forgot she had a trailer hitch and backed into my G35x's plastic ground effects/bumper. Once I got her attention and got her to stop backing up she insisted she was parked in by Crit and I. We just looked at each other dumb founded because when she had backed up she had at least 6 feet in front of her minivan to Crit's car. We got her out of there with a minimum of directions once she realized that when you drive a minivan the front of your car is only 3 feet from your head.

5 minutes to go there is an announcement of a separate B Group. I was all the sudden much happier...you know just in case the A Group decided that waiting more than 15 minutes for me was becoming tiresome. Little did I know how much the B Group would come in handy.

Crit and I start to role out with the A Group when to my dismay I realize that the last time anyone had been on my Klein it was my Beautiful Wife (BW for short now aka, RHS and BOS) when we were seeing if my frame would fit her. So as I am trying to avoid my chin with my knees I let Crit know and whip around to go to my car to make a quick adjustment assuming I will simply ride with the B Group but Crit to his credit wouldn't let me quit on the A Group that easy. With a quick seat height adjustment we take off from my car, go flying by the B Group waiting at a light and he says grab on and I will tow you to the A Group. Grab on to what? I couldn't even catch up to him to draft so I let him go after a fruitless .5 mile chase so he can ride with the A's. I pull off and adjust my seat some more and catch on with the B's.

All in all a good ride, I was pretty spent going up Mtn. Road but for some reason when we got to Dutton Hill Rd. I actually kept up with the better climbers for the most part. When I don't ride for a while it takes some miles to get used to the pain levels associated with climbing but once I am there no issues.

The only issue with riding with the B's is they are very disorganized. I suspect that is why they all ride with the B's as they aren't into creating a nice tight peloton so there were constantly people off the front. I would use my superior descent technique (fat+gravity+plus tight tuck=speed) to chase down some breaks and I led a couple of them, the last as it turned out broke up the pack as the 9 of us riding were only 4 when we returned to the shop. Probably not good B Group etiquette but the guys who I was towing seemed pretty happy.

We went 35 miles with an average of 18 mph with quite a bit of soft pedaling, not too bad with that much climbing. The A Group avg. 21.6 and Crit said through most of the rollers they were going 32-38 so they probably picked up a lot of their speed there. There is about 6 miles of neutral zone riding due to traffic so the main part of the ride is much faster. I didn't have a computer on but I would say my top speed probably crested 40 mph as Crit's was 42 and I usually descend faster.

Crit and I headed to my unfurnished apartment sat in the camp chairs and did some venting. Assuming my stuff either arrives tonight or is not scheduled to arrive too early tomorrow I will do the Saturday morning ride with SMCC.

I am glad to be back on the bike even if I am temporarily a B Group rider.