I did a brisk road ride this afternoon for the first time this year. Most of my 2009 riding has been regular commuting to work on the Rawland. I can tell that the elapsed time on the bike from commuting has been good for me even if it's not racking up huge miles (in fact I fit into a pair of pants today that were a little too snug previously).
What I have not done much at all this year is sustained distance or steady speed. So much of commuting seems to be relatively short efforts punctuated by brief rest intervals at stop lights. I think I would absolutely kick ass at a 7-mile long, urban, high traffic time trial. As for normal riding, I was not so sure...
It was good, though. I had enough base miles in my legs to make the hills of Medina no problem and sustained nice high speeds (for me) for the whole ride. We averaged 15.5 mph, which I'll take, considering we toodled around the perimeter of Baker park reserve on the trails, and that plus the hills will drops the average a bit.
The best part was that my riding partner and I were very evenly matched (except for the fact that he was on a 60+ cm frame and I was on my 50 cm). We probably looked like Abbot and Costello out there.
I was reminded how much I like that LeMond Sarthe. It's lively, out does me in a climb, and it's very steady despite it's steep angles. We touched 32 mph on one decent it seemed to be on rails.
What's funny is how different a road ride seems now. This was a classic "drive to the ride" event. We pedaled through some sprawl until we got to the "good roads" and then went for it, but we basically did a big circle (more like a damage "P", actually). So much of my riding has been to-and-from this year that it seemed a bit strange, but still a lot of fun. Maybe a TCBC ride might be in my future after all...
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