Ride Day

Today was the day, today we did our ride.

No doubt you have all been eagerly waiting to hear how it went, constantly refreshing the internet, asking yourself "where is he, how did it go, I must know, I must!!! etc". Well wonder no more, the ride is complete and I am back.

So how did it go?

In a word. Fine.

In two words.

Perfectly okay.

Okay, fine, if I am a little honest the ride was a little disappointing. It was just so darn easy. I mean it was a lovely ride, the weather was perfect, we all rolled out in our matching kit and rode very nicely together. Logistically the ride went off without a hitch, no crashes, only one puncture, everybody had a wonderful time. Probably a better ride than last year I think. By all measures it was a great day out.

The thing was, it just wasn't very demanding. Going into the ride I was fully aware that it probably wasn't going to be that hard. We were riding with a big group and at a pretty sedate pace so the writing was on the wall, but I guess you are still hoping for that exhausted sense of accomplishment at the end of a ride that long, to feel like it was time well spent. Instead I think a lot of us rolled to the end and went "Phew, okay that is done, so..... now what?" There was none of that fall on the floor, wow I can't believe we got through that, what an accomplishment type feeling at the end. Does that sound silly? It sounds like it should sound silly, but that is what it was.

Certainly in the group there were people who were in a whole world of hurt, barely limping to the finish line, just holding on. But that wasn't us. For a lot of us it was a very pleasant morning out and about, but I am not sure if it was much of a gut buster of a session.

However, perhaps having a great day riding a bike is enough. There are a lot worse things to be doing rather than spending the morning out on a lovely day cycling. When it is said like that, perhaps I shouldn't complain that much.

In the end that is really what this ride was all about. Yes the ride is intended to give people a sense of accomplishment, but more importantly it is supposed to be a really fun day out on bikes with good people. When measured against that yard stick then it certainly was a success.

I am a little glad it is done though, no more long rides for a while I think.