Wednesday Ride Report

Last night I went on the teamFIRE Show and Go ride, errrrrr, the GPBC No Rider Left Behind Ride, actually I don't really know what ride I went on. While it is nice to go on a ride with a larger group, and I enjoy meeting some of the other riders, I definitely think that it was a case of the teamFIRE riders going on the GPBC ride and not the other way around.

Nobody announced a route - we just started rolling out at a good clip (20 mph+) south towards 14th street. Kevin and I started out at the back to do our teamFIRE duty, but it became clear early on that this was not a "No Rider Left Behind" ride as there was no waiting at stop lights and no regrouping. At one point, one of the riders I was with asked "Where are we going?", to which I could only reply "South!". After we got held up by a couple of stop lights, we no longer had any chance of catching the pack, so we just rode by ourselves and let others do the same. By the time we crested that first hill going south on 77, the main group was out of sight - and we had no idea which direction they had gone - so we headed out to Sprague, and then back through Roca to get back to Lincoln - a nice 30 mile workout.

I think if the original concept of the "No Rider Left Behind" ride is going to continue, it needs to go back to a 5:45 start time so that it is a smaller group that can stay together easier, and so that everybody is there for that ride and understands the philosophy. There are too many separate agendas on the GPBC ride - some people want to go much faster and would be frustrated by the relaxed pace of our teamFIRE ride, it is hard to get everybody to wait for regrouping, and most of the riders on the GPBC ride are there for that ride and are completely unaware of the teamFIRE ride - except that there are teamFIRE riders riding along. I also think it would make it easier for different team members to take turns helping out at the back - if it ends up being Kevin and me on the back nursing some slow rider into town every week (even though we are the slowest riders on the team), that will get old real quick for us. It is not much fun pulling into town at 10 mph with a struggling rider a half hour after the rest of the group every week. Anyway, that's my $.02.

Now to the good part on the ride - we detoured from 40th street on the way home to stop at Las Margaritas for $2.50 margaritas and some food. As we sat in the bar, two very attractive ladies sat down next to us for some drinks, and after a while started asking us about what we had been doing - were we training for a race, asking about the team jersey, etc. They obviously respected the fact that we would have to be secure in our manhood if we were willing to sit in a bar drinking magaritas while wearing spandex and lycra :). I told Kevin afterwards, if our wives ever get sick of us, we now know what to do to pick up chicks - the teamFIRE jersey is a great conversation starter!

It turns out that one of the ladies teaches spin classes, and was getting divorced the next day from a husband who wouldn't let her ride on the road. She said her first act as a single woman would be to buy a road bike. We invited her to come out next week to the Wed. ride - so we weren't just having drinks and Mexican food, we were recruiting for the team. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The best part of our conversation with the two lovelies has to do with the fact that my beautiful wife was sitting about 10 feet away at a table in the same bar, having a ladies night out with three of her friends. They all thought the entire situation was hilarious. I told her that they may have to find a different place for her ladies night out - as she was cramping my style ;).