It's not the Speed

So a little while back I mentioned the fact that I was making an attempt at being a bike racer again.  Well, that hasn't gone nearly as well as I would have hoped and, since I haven't raced since the end of April, I'm beginning to think that this "race season" may be a wash.  It basically comes down to the basic realization that I'm not fast.  And if you've ever tried to race anything; a bike, a car, a potato sack; being fast is kind of important.  

Since I'm not fast and probably won't get fast enough over the next few weeks to start racing for real anytime soon, I've decided that I should just ride as many miles as I can.  This happened again this past weekend when Brian, Scott, and I decided to do the Renovo loop.  This little spin would take us on a really scenic, yet deceptively hilly 103 mile trek.  I've done this ride several times, and yet I somehow forget how much I don't like certain parts of it.

The bottom line is this - it was a lot of climbing; a lot of wind for the last 25 miles; a potential wrong turn that worked out okay in the end; and Scott gutting out the whole thing with a significant chest cold.  I keep telling myself that rides like these are beneficial to my racing aspirations as I'm building base, but in the end, I'm just happy that I got my June hundy out of the way early so I can take it easy until July.