Under cloudy skies with warm temperatures, a stiff wind out of the South, and no rain (did I mention it wasn't raining?) Steve was the only ABRT rider to show up for the ride. As he put the bike together contemplating a 3 hour tempo ride several Naval Academy team members showed up for the ride. A bit after 9AM it was apparent that no one else was going to show so Steve, and 4 Naval Academy cycling team members set off.
Early in the ride it became apparent that the Navy team had an old school coach as they were just out to do base miles, and Steve's tempo was breaking the group up. There was a bit of dissention in the group about who wanted to go hard, but it was agreed upon that things would start out at a fairly relaxed tempo. After a brief pause for a flat tire early in the ride things continued at an endurance type pace until the first rest stop. As the ride progressed it was obvious that unlike ABRT the Naval Academy team actually waits for their women. A women's collegiate "A" rider from the team was doing a good job hanging in, but the team would slow up for her after some of the short hard efforts on the hills.
At the rest stop knee warmers and arm warmers were disappearing as the weather had warmed a bit. The sun would make an occaisional appearance at various times throughout the ride. As we hit the light at the beach a glance at the flag revealed that we'd have a very nice stiff tailwind for the remainder of the ride. The pace picked up a bit, but things were still fairly relaxed. Coming up the hill out of the beaches Steve was sitting comfortably on the wheel of an Academy rider who was cranking out a fairly steady 350 watts. This was the smoothest trip he could remember up this hill in quite awhile, but alas after less than a minute there was a cry from the back about reducing the pace.
The group continued to do a nice steady pace on the rollers with several riders taking long even pulls. After the light at Central Avenue Steve was informed that only two of the Academy riders would be participating in the sprint, and that he was welcome to move up in the pace-line. He happily sat on wheels until the sprint, but not knowing who the best sprinter was he ended up picking the wrong wheel, and finishing second.
Just as the group finished the sprint the wind picked up, and the rain started. It was light at first, but by the time the group made it back to the park and ride things had picked up considerably. The Academy riders decided to try, and fit all four of their bikes into the one vehicle as 3 of them had ridden to the start, but none wanted to deal with the 20 to 30+ mph crosswinds on the way back to the Academy.
The Academy team will most likely be attending some of our future rides this winter, and a brief discussion on the merits of "old school" training versus "new school" ensued. There was definitely some interest in the "new school" philosophy.
Another interesting thing about riding with the Academy team is that aside from the usual bits of useful insight shared by motorists we actually did get a "Go Navy" a couple of times. Somehow I never remember hearing a "Go ABRT" on any of our rides although I do remember several phrases that started with the word "go".
Those of you who were sitting on the couch (gee I guess that would be all of you) missed a really nice off-season ride.
I really worry about people who write about themselves in the third person.
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