First Ride of the Year!

   So, is there anything better for a cyclist than the first outdoor ride of the year? OK, I know some of you probably ride all year long, no matter what the weather. Yes, I see you out there - riding in snow and sub-30 degree weather (or lower)! I truly admire you, I do. I think you're a little crazy - but I admire you.

I am not one of you.

   No, for me, the first outdoor ride of the year was yesterday. My friend Kathy M. invited me to join her and a few friends for a ride. Now, normally, I don't ride with Kathy because I can't hang with her. Seriously, she can drop me like an anchor without breaking a sweat. She races almost year-round and the girl has got some serious cycling skills. And while I'm OK with being dropped if I know where I am, I really didn't want to get dropped out in the middle of nowhere. But, then I decided to apply Rule #5 and go. I'm never going to get faster if I don't ride with faster people, right? Kathy also said she wasn't going to ride hard because she was just building base miles. I figured I could hang with that.
   It was a bit chilly to ride by my standards -  it was still in the 30's Sunday morning when I was getting dressed, and would be in the low 40's when we started to ride with eventually getting into the 50s. Since I generally don't ride when it's this cold, I had NO idea what to wear. In theory, when you ride outside, you dress for 10-15 degrees colder than what the actual temperature is because of wind. After running around the house trying to find all of my random pieces of cold-weather riding gear, I was off to meet the gang: Kathy M., my FTP training buddy Kathy R., Kristie (one of Kathy M.'s teammates) and Angela, who races mountain bikes.  Seriously - do I have some bad-ass friends, or what?
   I brought my Litespeed, rather than my tri bike to the ride. I love my Litespeed. Seriously - it's the best bike. I know it probably sounds crazy to most people to be so devoted to a bike... because it IS just a bicycle. But it fits me perfectly. When I ride it, it's like it's an extension of me - I know exactly how it's going to react in any given situation. I don't feel that way about my tri bike - it's twitchy, as tri bikes generally are. I'm not a fan of twitchy. My Litespeed is smoooooth.

Best bike ever.

   The ride was great. It was pretty flat and we rode at a pretty casual pace. Generally, I head out to Leiper's Fork or some place out in the country to ride. This time we met up at LP Field in downtown Nashville and headed up to Joelton - definitely more urban than what I'm used to. Fortunately, riding with car traffic doesn't bother me, and there wasn't that much of it anyway. There was one CRAZY hill up to Joelton, which was a bit of a leg-breaker after not being on the bike since October (Yikes!), but I survived. Kathy R., Angela and I split off at around 20 miles and headed back. I think we rode about 30 total. Nothing crazy, but it was a great way to kick off riding season. So glad to be back on the bike!   And I need to be because I'm aiming to tackle my FIRST century ride in May - the CRAM in Clarksville! There are lots of distances for this ride, so you all should come join me!