60 miles. And on a
very windy day. So now we’re at 105
miles in 2 days. That means she’s riding
at a pace to get in, let’s see…(umm…365 times—no, divided by…umm…bring down the naught…)
19,162 miles this year! hmmm... Ok, so I guess there comes a point at which
the principle of extrapolation doesn’t really work out too pretty good any
more.
But here’s the thing:
she’s getting very strong. In
road riding, it’s all about the wind. It’s
like geese flying south for the winter—they all get in a line, or 2 lines
forming that classic “V” shape, and the goose at the front is the one who does
more work than anyone else because he’s the one setting up the draft. For the NASCAR fans in the crowd, you know
what I mean, right? And so it is in road
cycling. If you’ve ever seen a group of
riders out along the side of a road, you’ll notice that they’re often in a
single file line. The reason for this isn’t
necessarily because they’re trying to be polite and all stay to the side of the
road to make more room for the cars. It’s
because everyone is trying to stay behind the person in front of them so they
can take advantage of the draft. (And if
you ever see a line of cyclists and then a big gap and then one guy behind the
group, feel sorry for that guy because he is now officially on his own.)
Now the goal in those lines of cyclists would be for
everyone in the line to take a turn at the front. If any one person, even a very strong rider,
stays out at the front for too long , that person gets wiped out and the whole
group slows down. There are some
exceptions to that—typically new riders aren’t expected to go out in front, and
sometimes even strong riders might stay in the back if they’re new to a group
or are on unfamiliar roads. But
everybody else should be willing to take a turn in front. And Brenda has been in that position each of
the last two days. She pulled us toward the
end of the ride yesterday, and she took 2 turns out in front today. So that’s it.
It’s official. She’s no longer a
new rider. And she’s getting stronger
with each ride. And I, for one, am
thoroughly impressed.
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