Ride for Independence - CycleTour

I met up with Dexter who was the race director and Kam32 and her husband Rob. The group took off at 8 and we started off headed south. First climb was up a short road running away from the lake. We then did a few miles of rollers with some flat riding. Stopped to help Kam with a dislocated chain and continued into Cheshire (don't worry if you've never heard of it, if you sneeze, you'll miss it!) Headed towards Bristol and this was the first major climb. Put it into low gear and spun it out. Going down the other side was much better, hit the mid 40's and climbed up to the top of another smaller hill. Down another 40 + mph to the midway rest stop. Goofed off for 15 or 20 minutes and had a half of a PB sandwich and headed back out. Almost done and we turn down towards the lake and found a climb that about got the best of me. Finally crawled to the top and found the down hill I had been thinking about all morning. I have climbed the infamous Miller Hill, but had never gone down it. Hit 52 mph going down and as much as I like the speed, this even got me a little nervous!
Kam did really well for not riding the hills as much in training and even though she keeps saying she's not, we are going to get her to do the lake ride soon! But I have to give a shout out to her husband Rob. He borrowed my old hybrid, and it is not meant to do this type of climbing. He only showed struggling at all on the last hill and that was mostly because I didn't think to put a cage and water bottle on it and we kind of desserted him at the bottom. But he finished with a smile and maybe we can get him out again!

Nothing, this was a social ride with a some challenging hills thrown in for good measure.

Hung around by the lake and chatted with Kam, Rob, Dudley and some of the other riders. Connie came down and had lunch with me. Got a massage so I can run tomorrow. First time I have taken advantage of this little perk. Wont be the last!


Dudley runs a nice ride! Nice group of riders, laid back atmosphere, good food, good location and great people. For some fun and socialization mixed in with a challenging ride I highly recommend this.
Oh yeah, Kam, next year we are doing the metric century!