T-Town Ride

Today, after I had my Orthopedic appointment in Allentown to get my left knee and left ankle x-rayed and observed by the Doc, I headed over to Trexlertown (T-Town) to meet with Kim at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center (formally Lehigh Valley Velodrome) for a 2 hour ride on the road. Today was a great day in the 50s and very sunny. There were times I almost ripped off my leg-warmers just because I was getting hot!

We take off heading towards Old 22 and I kept up with the Pro, Kim, for a while. But then, we hit this HUGE hill climb, and I was able to keep up with her until a quarter to a half way through, when I slowed down and she took off. I finally yelled out "DROP!" to let her know I was dropping back. She slowed down a little while still climbing and I met up with her at the next stop sign after a fun downhill after the climb. I did my usual thing by apologizing (for slowing her down and not keeping up) and she just laughs and says "not a problem". I did a decent job keeping up with her, or staying with 15 feet behind her with multiple catch-up (I go just a tad slower on hills and slow inclines and I play catch-up on flat or downhill roads).

We've passed a few cyclists going in the opposite position, which is different to me since I live in an area that isn't as cyclist-friendly. The pinnacle of my town with cycling is that Jeff Rutter lived here, he was a huge track star (bike, not running), and was supposed to be in the Olympics that one year the U.S. boycotted it. But not many people around her knows about that, which isn't surprising. Back on topic, Kim and I were near Topton (I think) when she heard people talking and shouting behind us... I couldn't hear them but she said that there is a group coming up behind us, let's slow down and catch on to the group. Well............. they were going faster than we had anticipated and when we tried to catch onto the back, we were going too slow (to let them catch up to us) and we got dropped instantly... sorry Kim. However, I felt good when we caught up to a lone-cyclist and passed him. He actually jumped on my wheel I think for a bit, cause I looked back several times and he was like 10 feet behind me. But then after a turn I looked back to see him not there anymore. I thought maybe he took a turn in a different direction.

Kim and I finished the 2 hour ride and got back to the velodrome. I was just cooling down when that guy who we caught up and passed got to the velodrome, like a minute or two after we got there. So I guess he was still behind me and just dropped off at some point.

I'm taking a rest day tomorrow, then Wednesday (in between my scheduled MRI for my knee and my sister's State's second round playoff game) I will be doing a 2 hour ride, thursday I'll do some sprints for an hour or two, and friday I'll be doing a very light ride to recover from the previous two days. Then this weekend is the Philly Phlyer collegiate race weekend. Later this week I will post to talk about that, which I am getting excited for now!