I'm soooo back, baby!

18 miles at 17.8mph.

But that's not the full story.

 

Top speed was 25.5mph.  That's a sprint top speed.  On a flat.  No real wind assistance.

 

I feel better than I have in a loooong time.

 

Recap:

I hit the picnic loop and latch on to a HUGE pace line.  I'm kind of riding behind it just a ways letting them pace me because I don't know these people and pacers you don't know can be a dangerous bunch.  So I ride a few loops with these guys and then attack and take 2 laps on my own ahead of the group.  After the 2 laps I drop back and let the group catch me and ride a few more laps with them.  At around the 7 mile mark I attack again and pass them and ride another loop on my own then peel off at around 9 miles to take the road around the jogging loop.

I take the loop and get back to the picnic loop just in time to...  yup, catch the pacers again.  I latch on to their tails and ride a couple of laps with them from about mile 13 to mile 15.  Somewhere around mile 15 I attack again and take off.  Here's where I think I recorded my top speed because I dropped to the little gear in back and the big one up front, got on my aero bars, and just pounded it for nearly a full lap.  I put some distance between me and the group on that lap, but I also gassed myself pretty bad.  I took it easy for almost half a lap after that waiting for the group to catch me, then I had trouble hanging with them--partly because they pushed the pace at that point and partly because I was gassed.  They started dropping riders about then, too.  Their group of almost 2 dozen riders had dwindled 2 groups of 3 or 4, several soloists off the back, and a main group of maybe 8 or 12 who were out of my reach.  I passed most of the soloists in the last 1/4 lap and one of the lagging groups and then called it a night to come home and be with my baby and my baby mama.

Damn, but I feel GOOD!!!

No pain in the ribs.  No real fatigue.  I'll know better after this weekend's long ride, but at this rate I feel like a good pace of 12 to 15 mph for the MS150 is not out of the question.  12mph on day 1 is something like 8 hours in the saddle, which is something like a 10 hour day, which puts me in LaGrange somewhere near 4pm, which isn't bad.  Not bad at all.

I've got 3 weeks, 2 long weekend rides, and maybe 10 or 12 weekday rides left.  If I can drop 5 or 10 lbs and keep pounding the pavement, I should do just fine.