1st Group Ride

[warthog]

Went on my second group ride this weekend.

53 miles in 2.33 hours. Averaged 20.6 mph. Needless to say, we were flying.

Almost ate shit at one point going about 26 mph on a rails to trails section. Went off the pavement for a second and kinda bunny hopped back up to get on the track again. Thank god for my MTB background. I think some of the other guys woulda been dead.

Man, that was my kinda ride. Never really felt winded at all. I pulled 4 times, my first being at 28 mph for about 2 minutes. Pulling isn't so bad, it is getting back on the caboose that sux. I almost got left behind a couple times, cause I didn't have anything left to get back in the draft.

It ain't mountain biking, but this shit is fun. I like the speed, and the "holy shit I could really get fucked up" factor is pretty good too. Yay road biking.

[Vinman]

Nice warty, the speed is what really drew me into road biking. If your club does any individual time trial kind of things you should give that a try too. Seeing just how fast you can ride by yourself over 20K(~12.5mi) or longer can be a really painful, but fun at the same time.

I had a similar kind of recovery last year during a warm up ride for a TT. I was riding along around 17-18 mph and glanced away from the road for a few seconds as I was approaching a slight curve to the left.

Next thing I know i was headed toward a ditch with a 5 foot dropoff. Without even thinking I leaned left and hit the brakes to kind of skid the bike around as the bike came around I stomped the pedals just as my back tire started over the dropoff as was able to get back onto the shoulder under control.

I was kind of lucky that there was some loose gravel on the very edge of the shoulder that let my back tire come around in the skid. Had it been all pavement I would have either gone into the ditch or eaten it on the edge of the shoulder for sure.

Lesson learned, always pay attention to where you are going

[CantDog]

the "holy shit I could really get fucked up" factor is pretty good too. Yay road biking.

The holy shit I could really get fucked up factor is unbelivable--go watch a CAT5 criterium and you'll want to lock your bike up. Carnage on a road bike is much worse than mountain bike carnage, for sure.

[truth]

MTB skills are good thing on road bike. While it may take you a while to the nuances of the peloton and paceline riding, the bike handling skills will serve you well.