If I Can Not Ski I Will Cycle!

It is the middle of December at the International Lair of the Wisconsin Skier and the precipitation is rain not snow and the temps are ranging from 40° to 50° F. The winter sports enthusiast in me is as bleak and heavy as the steel-grey skies above me, but at least if I can not ski, I will cycle!

Fortunately, yesterday was dry and one of our local cycle-racing teams The Diablos organized a group bike ride. Since the weather was dry I planned to join along and I did!

Here is the ride:

It was a good ride, it took me over a number of Strava segments I’ve never been on before and on the first one I found myself in a bad mix of circumstances and dropped off, but the group slowed down and I was able to rejoin (Thanks all!). After the ride I found I am #5 overall on the segment “New Wrightstown Bridge (Westbound)”. There was not a tight group at the time and my recollection of the ride up that bridge was that I was working my up in the group, passing up one of the guys I ride with regularly so it wasn’t all that bad (and yes the guy I refer to can kick my @$$ all day long on the bike, but whether he is hammering or not I consider it a good sign when I pass Brent).

I took a pull along the Fox River from Wrightstown to Kaukauna with Jeff and that went amazingly well, it was relatively flat terrain and the wind was a tailwind, it shows in my data, my cadence is regular and as near flat as it gets. I averaged about 22 mph, 93 rpm cadence, and my heart averaged out at 142 bpm (141 at the start and 152 at the end) and it lasted for 4.5 miles. Those numbers are near ideal for me.

John Robertson riding in the group captured some video and photos of the ride and here is that video. I am easy to pick out being the guy wearing the brightest yellow jacket (offsets all the Diablo black):

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So, until the weather turns more winter like and the holidays pass it will be cycling for me which is quite okay.