Tuesday World's Redux

So Tuesday night rolled around as it does once each week. Always between Monday and Wednesday. And always (except during the winter months) with a group pain festival in which to partake if you feel the need.

As I mentioned before, the A's have started to ride with us lately, and this fact makes Tuesday nights tough. This week was more of the same. The only real difference was that the smoke from the wildfires in Okeefenokee swamp was blowing through, which made all of Bham smell like a campsite.

We rolled off through Mountain Brook and through Irondale at a pace with which I was unfamiliar. Recognizing that my best chance to save energy was to suffer enough to stay near the front, I picked a solid wheel and stayed on it. Since this was a rest week, I knew I wanted a short high intensity interval that would simulate the final miles of a race and so I told myself that I would stay near the front all the way to the end of Ruffner.

Now Ruffner road is a unique experience in that it begins with a climb on which the group accelerates the whole of the rise. At the foot of the hill, we might be rolling at 15mph, but at the top, we were running 20. By the time we got over the top and on the flat beyond, we were at 28 and still going harder. As the rollers started, I was about 10th wheel and looked back to make sure I had nobody half-wheeling me when the rough road started and everyone scatters like cockroaches when the lights come on.

There was no-one behind me. In fact, there was a 50 meter gap and it was growing. I was up front, last in the first selection of riders, who, in a demonstration of the biggest difference between "A" and "B" riders were riding harder on the down-side of the rollers than they were on the up-side. ("B" riders like to go hard up the hill, but then recover on the downhill, "A" riders just go hard with no recovery). This worked perfectly into my plan for the night. I struggled and suffered, but made it to the end of Ruffner in the 4th wheel position and hit my lap button...20 seconds faster than last week's new best time.

Surprising myself, I decided that I hadn't quite spent all my energy yet, so I decided to hang as long as I could on John Rogers Drive. "As long as I could" translated to about halfway to the top beyond the light that marks the gradient change. The rider in front of me let a gap open and I just didn't have the legs to close it. So that was it for me, ride over. As the "B" group caught me, I tried to hang on to them for a while, but we were climbing 78 and I was too spent. So I took it easy and spun my way home, satisfied that I had just spent an evening with intensity that I hadn't approached in a while.

A lot of fun, and a good workout besides. Can you ask for more?