Red Ribbon Kick-off Training Ride

Distance = 14.41
Time = 1.22.58
Avg. Speed = 10.4
Max Speed = 15.2

Red Ribbon Ride Kick-off Training Ride. About 15 people showed for the this first ride of the training season. That was a pretty good number of people I thought. There were a few that are on the All God's Children MCC team, which was cool. I had checked out the names on the team but don't really know anyone at church so it was good to put names to faces. There were two other women, Kelli and Jean, that I recognized from church. Funny thing was that both names are relatively gender neutral. So according to the team list, it was possible that I was the only woman. Glad there are others! I feel better about being part of a team now that I've actually met some of the others. I had a vision of camping alone and spending the entire 300 miles on my own. Which, while riding, I might. For an introvert like me, a few connections here and there can do wonders!

Anyway, on with the training ride. We started out in the parking lot of All God's Children. They did a safety speech before heading out. Taught us the hand signals. Told us to hydrate and not to pass each other. lol Being the opening ride, the point was just to spend some time in the saddle and enjoy each others' company. That works. We rode out to Park Ave. where we went North and did a little jag down to the entrance of the trail about 2 blocks away. Not bad! Then we headed west on the Greenway Trail, which seems like it spans most of Minneapolis. Great for commuters! Made me miss living in the city a little. Not Minneapolis though! heheh We rode in line for about 7.5 miles until we got to The Depot Coffeehouse in Hopkins, MN. Cute little place next to what used to be railroad tracks. Stopped there for a few minutes so people could get coffee and use the bathroom. I still don't understand drinking coffee in the middle of a ride. People do it all the time. But it's a diuretic (makes you have to use the bathroom a lot) and seems like it would cause dehydration. Neither of those things seem good to me on a bike ride. But lots and lots of people do so it must be something good... or addicting! lol After the break we were standing outside waiting for the last few people to come out. Lorrie and I both started getting cold just standing there. It wasn't really cold out. But we were sweaty and it definitely wasn't warm. Low 50s maybe and cloudy. So we went back to the foyer until the others started coming out. Wusses! (= Back on the bikes for the trip home. I don't know where but at some point people started telling us about glass on the trail ahead. Apparently someone had dropped some bottles from a street bridge above the trail that landed right in the middle of the trail and covered most of the width. Rude people! We passed one man who was changing a flat. Presumably from the glass. Poor guy. A couple of the people in front asked if he was okay or needed help. I thought that was nice. I always offer but have some trouble changing road tires so my help would often be useless. But in a pinch (heheh) I can get the job done. We also passed under another bridge where an elderly man was shaking his cane at us and yelling. Nice! Finally, there was a man running on the "wrong" side of the trail. Lesson... on trails you walk, ride, and run on the right side. On roads you bike with traffic on the right side but ride and run on the left facing traffic. He was doing the opposite. Not a big deal unless there's a lot of traffic. Apparently one of the guys in the front of our group pointed out the error of his ways because what I heard from the runner was, "BITE ME!" lol Ahh recreationalists! Gotta love us! I think those were the negative interactions. Everyone else was cool and we had a great time.

What I noticed. I got a little impatient with the slow pace. I busied myself making jokes to myself. I kept my place. Didn't pass. In other words, I behaved. I'm sure my friends on the AIDS/Life Cycle ride would be impressed. Okay, but here was another interesting observation. Remember that safety speech I mentioned at the beginning? Well, for most of the ride we heard nothing from the ride leader about runners, walkers, or bikers up. He also rode 2 abreast most of the way back... even at one point when he was passing a walker on one side and another cyclist was coming toward us and passing. I thought that was interesting. Why? Because I am inherently a rule disobeyer. And when I see the ride leader... who just read all these rules to us AND didn't want someone to ride with us because she was late and *that is the rule*... break most of those rules... I AM IN! lol

Welcome to the 2008 Training Season!

P.S. I forgot Jeero! Please don't tell Jeero that I was out riding. Jeero would be VERY hurt! Jeero was home with O.X. having an UglyParty. We'd have grounded them but we felt guilty.