1,000 down, 4,000 to go

Today was major milestone # 1 toward Brenda’s 5,000-mile goal—the first 1,000 miles.  Who would’ve thought that the year was already 1/5 over?  (Ok, the year isn’t exactly 1/5 over yet, but I think that's an indicator of how well she’s doing.)  She cruised through the 1,000 mile mark 21 miles into today’s ride, which means that now she has about 3 weeks or so in the bank.  I’m so impressed.  I’m quite sure that for the first two or three years I rode, I never got much more than 1,000 miles or so in the whole year.  But that’s just milestone #1, so we won’t go crazy celebrating just yet. 

It was still pretty cold at the start of the ride this morning, which meant she went out with a hat under her helmet, a long-sleeved jersey, tights, and a jacket.  She said that she rode with the pack just fine until about the last ¼ of the ride, when she got just plain too hot.  Ok—de-layering time.  Then after she took off the jacket and hat she cooled right back down and rode strong the rest of the way.  This is listed as a C ride, and during the ride they do keep the pace down and the group together.  But if you choose to ride to and from the ride (which Brenda likes to do) then it’s a little different.  She typically meets one or two of the guys just down the street a little ways and then they ride out to the ride together.  In the morning that’s typically a slower pace—about the pace of the C ride—because it’s still early and nobody’s really warmed up yet.  But on the way home it can be a different story.  One of these guys has found new ability and likes to pick up the pace on his way home.  There have been times when Brenda has had a hard time keeping up with that pace, but for the past several rides she’s been careful to put herself in a good position at the end, and she’s been able to keep up his faster pace all the way home.  Today she not only kept up, but she even took a turn out in front of him for part of it. 

So now it’s on to the next 1,000.  Hopefully she’ll make it to that milestone before she starts teaching her swim lessons.  That’d be ideal because during swim season she’ll lose those weekday morning rides.  I don’t know if she’ll make it all the way to 2,000 before swim season starts or not, but she should be close.  That’ll be one of our mini-goals.