I survived the group ride

It was another hard ride last night but I was able to stay with the lead group by the grace of a couple stop lights. This ride even had a short hill that almost did me in, but with the help of a fellow rider, we we're able to bridge back into the group. As we started on the hill, I had already resigned to dropping out of the lead group, but they did not seem to be going that fast and I was feeling good, so I gave it a shot. However, I had already drifted back a ways so I had to power back up to catch  the stragglers of the lead group. As we reached the top, I was about 10 feet behind, the 20, then 30 and the gap just kept slowly getting bigger. A guy I had just met this evening came around me and we were able to work together and made it back into the group.

Later in the ride, we were heading in a direction that had a strong crosswind and it was impossible to stay in the draft. I was riding almost in the dirt to get as much draft as possible. Twice I totally ran out of steam and just stopped pedaling, drifting off the back. After I recovered, with the help of a couple others we were able to get back in the group, but it was largely because the lead group had to stop for lights.

These rides are so much fun for me. I get that same nervous anticipation like I used to get before big soccer games, just wishing the game would start already so I could get calmed back down.

A guy commented last night that it was time I shaved my legs. He said that I was fast enough to shave. I guess that should be taken as a compliment? I've been called into the leg-shaving community. The peer pressure is killing me.