Peach Peloton - Kaolin Country

Today was a regular Peach Peloton day.  Unfortunately, Robert couldn't go with me because he is recovering from the flu.  So, I headed to East Macon by myself to join my cyclopeeps.

Peach Peloton starts at 9:00 AM.  When I arrived at the starting location about 8:45, the only others in the parking lot were Stony and Chad Madan.  "Laws, what am I getting myself into?" went through my head.  But I got ready to ride regardless.

Within minutes, Allen, Cal, Doug, and Van also joined us - still quite a formidable group.  I was determined to ride my best, but I always prepare for the possibility of getting dropped.  I had uploaded the route into my Garmin, and in general I'm very comfortable with navigation.

With an odd number of riders, the group stayed in a two-up formation with me drafting on the back right.  I stayed there, letting the fading rider get in front of me as he came off the front.  The guys don't mind me forgoing pulling, which is just as well because it's my only hope of hanging for the whole ride.

Although the total amount of elevation gain was moderate, there were a few punchy climbs.  Often, the guys on the front rode up these hills harder than they should have, at least from a group riding standpoint.  (Remember, if your goal is to maintain a cohesive group, focus on keeping your power consistent, not your speed.)  Several times I found myself riding at about 150% of my threshold power up these fairly long climbs.  I recovered quickly each time, but I was concerned that these efforts would take too much from long-term energy reserves.  However, all I could do was keep riding as consistently as possible, maintaining that blessed draft.  The longer I could hang on, the better training it would be for me.

The route took us through Gordon.  As we left the city limits, a speck of dirt from the road got in my eye.  It was painful, but after I let my eye water for a few minutes, it finally felt better.  Ah, the legacy of riding in kaolin country...

We turned onto the Fall Line Freeway, which is also Georgia Highway 243 in this area.  We were riding along in Wilkinson County when I noticed a county line sign for Baldwin County.  Interesting, I thought; I didn't know we would be riding in Baldwin County today.  Literally about 10 seconds later, there was another county line sign indicating we were back in Wilkinson County.  Huh?  That really intrigued me, and sure enough, the Fall Line Freeway goes through a tiny corner of Baldwin County in that location.  About 450 feet to be exact - I measured it on Google Earth:

The red arrow indicates the 450-foot stretch in Baldwin County.

About half way in, we had a store stop in Irwinton.  We opted for the Red and White mini market instead of the Chevron.  The Chevron is halfway down a big descent, and we would have had to climb back up to get back on our route.  I'm glad we went to the Red and White because I got to see this inviting sign:

As we continued on, Cal started cramping.  He hung toward the back with me.  One time I took a turn in the two-up formation, riding next to Chad.  Chad is always very amiable on Peach Peloton.  I get the impression that he chats with you to try to take your mind off the pain.  It worked for me.  He told me about an interesting sounding book about the local kaolin industry and said he would let me borrow it.  That was all I could handle, however, in the two-up formation.  I resumed my trusty drafting position at the back.

The guys changed to a single paceline.  I stayed toward the back but occasionally moved a space or two up.  As long as I could keep drafting...

We were supposed to have an attack zone toward the end of the ride (not that I would have participated).  I don't think we really had an official one - to me, the entire ride was rather an attack zone - but that designated portion of the route still was challenging.  I was at my limit.  At one point I literally called, "Uncle!" but somehow continued to push.

The guys eased the pace (a little bit!), and we rode the last five miles.  I was exultant that I stayed with them the whole way!

It really is a great group of cycling friends.  I appreciate so much their camaraderie, the way they challenge me, and their encouragement.

After the ride I stopped at a nearby Subway.  I ate my sandwich at the restaurant and went to the restroom before the drive home.  When I looked in the mirror, I saw that I had a big glob of black makeup under my eye from when it had watered to get the dirt speck out.  The woman behind the counter at Subway must have thought I looked pretty pitiful.  I'm glad I didn't tell her I had just ridden my bicycle 90 miles; she would have thought I was crazy, too.

Ride on!