Ride leader!

So on Wednesdays, I used to and have started again doing the Cascade Bicycle Club ride. And last week, the ride organizer mentioned I might consider getting trained to lead rides on my own - there's interest in a more moderately-paced ride, and we could split the group in two and I could lead a moderate to brisk ride while he leads a brisk to strenuous.

I liked the idea, because then I'd get to pick the route, plus I'd have to have the discipline of riding every single week regardless of weather or how I felt. It would be a volume ride for me - not distance or intensity - but just pure fun and keeping my body moving.

When I showed up to just be a participant today, the ride leader asked me to co-lead - to choose a route (I had already thought of one) and be up front the entire ride!

This was hard, because this ride was supposed to be brisk to strenuous (16 to 21 mph average), and usually I can do it, but I do it with the benefit of drafting. Up front = no drafting!

But I was game, so I went for it. It was really hard to set a great pace, point out and call out all obstacles and directions, and watch traffic and my own shifting. But I enjoyed it, for sure! And I worked harder than I did last week, even though the route I picked was much easier.

I still have to take a class and stuff to be fully ready to lead on my own, and I definitely could have felt more confident, especially early on. But I'll learn all that.

So after my ride, I did come in to my office and check mail, then I went out for a quick 1.5 mile run. This is part of my "run every day" attempt, and with minimal time, I planned to do a .6 mile out-and-back (.6 is one way) on the street my office is on; but at the corner where you get to .6, there's a hill, so I decided I'd climb the hill also before turning around. I got a cramp about halfway back, and it was really painful. I'm not sure why I got it, either - my HR was fairly low and I hadn't eaten anything since before the ride.

But it went away right when I was done and started walking to cool down. So I'm not going to think about it too much.

I'm very happy today - it's a gorgeous sunny day, I ate perfectly yesterday despite a huge workout day, and my weight is back down after the weekend binge. And it's Wednesday, so the work week is half over!