Our annual tradition of riding a century on or near the Solstice was yesterday. I never know numbers until people start showing up, 22 riders strong! Getting through town with a group this big is a bit tricky but we made it without any horn honks or incidents. The real efforts don't start till we get out on the open roads on the North end of Sauk Rapids. Then it's game on.
I'm always amazed at the power of drafting. Up front my heart rate would hover around 160 (give or take). Back of the pack I could easily recover with a heart rate of 100. With a solid group of riders we quickly brought our average speed up to 20 and beyond.
The goal is to never to see how fast we can do it but rather finish in some form of daylight, go hard, and have fun. Mission accomplished last night!
It wasn't as fast as last year, 4 hours 19 minutes of ride time, but fast enough, 4 hours 32 minutes for a 22.6 mph average. We did have a headwind on the way out which died on the way back. Had the wind stayed constant I think we wold have bettered our time.
We finished at the shop and celebrated summer with pizza, Quarks, beer, and soda. Only downside is I get to bed so much later than I'm accustomed to!
Summer is here, go ride your bike, have fun, and smile!
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