Chilly Hilly Ride Report

Event #1 of the year is complete.

Chilly Hilly is a really fun way to kick off the cycling season - 33 miles of rolling hills. And when I say rolling hills, I really mean it. There are very very few times when you're actually riding on a flat. Most of the ups and downs are fairly gentle, but there are some really good hills too - ascents and descents - and the ride is quite challenging.

My goal for the day was to ride easy and stay with John. I especially wanted to be happy despite a slower pace than maybe I could have done on my own. John had to remind me a few times to slow down, but I'm happy to say that I listened to him and didn't feel bad about the slower pace. I did have to justify going ahead on some hills sometimes (he has a triple, I have a double so I sometimes just could not go as slow as he was - and then I wanted to enjoy the downhill parts, so I just flew then. Fortunately he goes even faster than me on the descents). He doesn't think I did a really great job of going his pace, but he recognizes that I tried really hard.

At the pace we actually rode - an average of 12.7 mph - I felt very comfortable except on the steepest and longest of the hills (where it wouldn't be possible to be comfortable except maybe in a car). It rained off and on during the day, and most of the time I was warm enough. I remember feeling much worse last year, and also there were two hills last year where I had to walk. No such thing happened this year, though my speed did drop to an all-time low of 4.2 mph on the steepest hill! Hey, at least I made it. Maybe next year I'll see if I can stay above 5.0 on it.

The big bad thing that happened, though, was that Danielle and her husband missed the ferry we were on. As the ferries were 50 minutes apart, we decided not to wait. We were so cold and just wanted to start riding, and we thought they could catch up to us (knowing we'd be waiting for some of the slower riders in our group, and also knowing Danielle and her husband could ride hard and catch us if they chose to).

This was probably the wrong decision. I didn't know what to do - we were seven people altogether, four of us were paying for childcare for our kids, one of us was planning to do the loop twice, and another of us had some things to do in the late afternoon. Danielle could have pre-registered for Chilly Hilly and would have made the ferry we were on, or her husband could have gotten out of bed sooner. However, there was a cafe nearby where we got John some food last year before we started the ride, so we could have waited for them there. But I was already afraid of the easy availability of unhealthy food on the course and didn't want to go to a cafe before we even started. Then again, last year everyone waited for John when he was low. It's much easier now after the fact - and knowing how upset Danielle is with me - to see other options and how maybe doing something else would have been a better choice.

Ultimately, I guess, if one of my best friends is really upset with me, I'd have to say I did make a mistake. I feel horrible about it - horrible enough that the social drama has sort of eclipsed the good day I was having and turned it into a source of shame. It's hard to write that I had a good ride when I hurt someone I care about very much.

I think I'm a pretty good friend most of the time. It's definitely important to me to be good to my friends, and I count Danielle among the people I care most about in the world. I worry so much about the "butterfly effect" one mistake can have on a friendship. Maybe I'm overreacting - only time will tell.