Tuesday I ventured up to Spring Street Sports to check out their Tuesday night ride. I'd heard this was a sprint ride, so I mentally prepared myself for pain. Turns out, the ride wasn't that difficult. Of course, any ride like this is only as hard on yourself as you make it. I kind of just took my pulls in the pace line, followed some wheels, and relied on couple riders who were very friendly and helped me out by letting me know when and where sprints were coming. But I'm still not in very good shape. At least not in shape enough to compete with the faster riders on this particular ride.
I'd give this ride a solid B. Though I appreciated the rest between sprints due to my out-of-shapeness, there was still a little too much lolly-gagging for my tastes. Especially for a Tuesday night ride. But everyone was very friendly, and really seemed to know how to handle themselves in a group ride setting, which is always nice. There was a nice mix of ages, too, which is also always nice. Plenty of savvy vets, like myself, and some newer, younger riders, too. Always nice to see young'ns out at the group rides.
I think this will end up being my once-weekly group ride for the rest of the season. Wednesday's ride is equally as fun, but it's demeanor is different. It's more slow and social, which is excellent; I love those kinds of rides. But I'm looking for a bit more of a workout than I get on that ride. Plus, riding from Eau Claire to Chippewa and back to do this ride gives me an extra hour and a half of pedaling. Which for me, and my limited weekly ride time is an added bonus.
