Hills!

Jessi invited me to join her coach and other athletes on a three-hour ride this morning. I was incredibly nervous, but I wanted to do it. I knew it would be a nice butt-kicking.

And it certainly was! We did 41 miles of finding big climbs, then enjoying fast descents. In the beginning, I hung with the group as if I always rode with them, but once they warmed up, it was clear I was the slow rider. And that was okay - I didn't get dropped (much) - city riding helps with that, because they get caught at street lights and stuff - and it really wasn't until the end of the ride where that was happening enough that there was a very real possibility that I couldn't keep up. Fortunately by then, I knew my way back. But even then, I could still see the group - I'm not sure how far back I was in distance, but it felt like with some more training and working with them, I'd be able to keep up pretty soon.

It's good for me to get almost dropped, though. Usually when I do my long rides with my friends(the groups I put together), I'm not the strongest rider, but I can be the most motivated. But that gives me some leisure to slow down on hills, take rests, wait for other riders to catch up, etc. On this ride, I had to be on my game the entire time. And frankly, it's been a while since I've done a three-hour ride where I really had to be on it - only the Wednesday Cascade club rides come close to that, and that's only an hour and half at most.

So I'd like to ride with them again, for sure. Now I have to figure out how to work it in with my "social" rides - John wants to ride with me and I've got other friends I want to see on Saturday mornings. Maybe every other week or something like that - either way, I'm so thankful to Jessi and her coach Jill for inviting me/letting me come along and giving me an excellent workout!

(Now I might need a nap, though!)