But first, a digression. Those folks with whom I ride probably are not aware that I am a very picky bike companion. If you have poor bike handling skills, are not respectful of traffic, or are habitually late or perennially slow, I won't ride with you. Of course, I give new riders some slack, but it only takes a few rides to improve.
Because I also race, much of my time is training. Even on group rides, like the Trek week-end rides, I find some sections to get in a bit of training. Winter time is the beginning of training and I am looking to get faster than I was last year, as the competition will be stiffer (faster guys are moving into my age category). With that in mind, I was looking for a group that is faster than me, but at the same time willing to let me hang with them without dropping me. I don't really like being the slowest rider in the group, but if they are willing to put up with me, I'll try to get faster. This is my pearl of wisdom to you: ride with faster riders. It's not necessary to continue reading, I'm just going to relate a few previous rides.
Earlier this year, I rode with Tom who leads a ride out of Pflugerville for Bike Austin (https://rides.bikeaustin.org/). This was recommended to me by Sherry, who does the Trek rides plus others. This was longer than what I had been doing (47 miles) and I struggled, but mostly kept up for the first 35 miles, then needed to be paced. It wasn't like I was really far behind, they had to wait at the turns for maybe a minute. I thanked Tom for the ride and that I'd be back later in the year. Then I increased my long rides to 50+, at my pace, in order to increase my stamina.
This Tuesday I rejoined Tom and as it turned out, it was the same route as a few months earlier. This time I lasted until the last few miles, which turned out to be against the wind. For my effort Training Peaks gave me two gold medals, for 60 second heart rate (132) and 90 second heart rate (130). Strava gave me two PR's. I took Wednesday off. But I was back again on Thursday, with a different route, but still over 50 miles.
The route was Pflugerville to Weir and back (different return roads), 52.7 miles. Chilly start with a slight NW breeze, forecasted to stay that way. There were ten of us, all experienced riders. Tom led the way at a brisk pace. After a longish break in Weir, we started back. Although, we continued north for a short time until turning east. It was a relief to get the NW wind, now more than a breeze, at our back. I occurred to me that I was enjoying the wind at my back a bit too much. Sure enough, once we turned south, it seemed like the wind was now WNW. Not as much help as I'd hoped. I dropped back a bit on the hill out of Jonah, but when we turned east on CR 101 I held my own in the 17mph range. Sadly, the turn south had me dropping back. The wind was a bother most of the whole way back and I was looking for a broad back to hide behind, mostly Steve who was doing sweep duties. BTW, there were three of us he was helping.
Bottom line: if you want to get faster, go with riders who are faster and be prepared to work a whole lot harder than when you ride by yourself. For this ride, Training Peaks once again gave me gold medals in the last 90 days, for 60 minute HR (133) and 90 minute HR (132) plus 60 minute power (138) and 90 minute power (129). The HR numbers are good, about the same as when I did Nationals in August. The power numbers are weak, about 30 watts lower than August, and 60 watts lower than what they should be. Part of that is the wind.
