Reindeer Games

Today was Peach Peloton day.  Since it's Christmas Eve, we did a shorter ride, 58 miles instead of the nearly 100 that we probably would have done otherwise.  We also played some reindeer games, courtesy of Robert, our ride leader.  He also got into the spirit by having me tie some ribbon onto his helmet.

About 16 people showed up for the ride, a good turnout, especially for Christmas Eve.  Our Georgia Neuro team got to wear our new kits, which came in just in time for Christmas.  I wore my new bib knickers and long-sleeved jersey.  Usually, I shy away from bib-style bottoms on Peach Peloton because unlike the guys, who can speed pee, I have to take off my top layers to pull down the bib straps.  My bib knickers did, in fact, turn out to be a liability at the pee break about an hour into our ride.  That's because my new jersey was harder to get off and on than I expected.  Its forearms are tighter than on my previous jerseys.  (Or maybe I'm turning into Popeye.)  I struggled to get all my gear back on as the guys rode past my hidey hole.  Van noticed I was lagging and was nice enough to hang back and pace me back to the group.

Maybe it was a good thing that I had to work to get back on.  It warmed me up for the first reindeer game, which began immediately afterwards.  It was a team time trial (TTT).  Before the ride, Robert had designated two teams of three.  One of the original designees turned back early, and so I took his place.

Each team had to stay together and could draft only each other, not the other team.  The remaining riders rode behind the two teams and watched.  The TTT lasted about three miles.  My teammates were Chad and Chris.  The other team included Bill, Brian, and Dale.  It was a close race.  They pulled ahead, and then we did.  It went back and forth several times.  I took only a couple of 10-second pulls.  I wasn't as strong as Chad and Chris, but I could draft really well.  The end was at the top of a small climb.  Bill pulled it out for the other team and led them to victory just ahead of us.  It was fun, even if my team didn't win.  It was also a fantastic workout.

I forgot to pack a Clif Bar, but fortunately, Robert had let me have one of his bars in the parking lot before the ride.  Recently, he ordered us a variety pack of bars that we hadn't tried before.  They are savory flavors, a seemingly nice change from the sweetness of so much bike food.  Last week during Peach Peloton, I tried a coconut curry bar.  It was OK but nothing to write home about.  Today I had a pizza marinara bar.  It tasted like a Chef Boyardee pizza from a kit - that hadn't been cooked yet.  Blargh.

I could tell that I burned a lot of matches on the TTT, but I continued comfortably enough by hanging at the back of the peloton.  However, when the second reindeer game, another TTT, started about half an hour later, I was toast.  Two different teams of three raced that one, including the strongest riders in the group, mostly Cat 1 and 2 guys.  No way could I hang on.  So, I just kept riding steadily on the familiar roads.

As LTO (less than optimal) as the pizza marina bar was, I'm glad I ate it.  Without that fuel, I really would have been hurting.  Dale also came off the back.  He knew that I was behind him, and so he rode slowly enough for me to catch him.  That was really nice of him to wait for me.  I rode as hard as I could, but my legs felt like rubber.  No wonder: at that point we had ridden two hours, and my normalized power was about 82% of threshold.

Finally, Dale and I made it back to the parking lot.  Robert and I wished the few remaining riders a Merry Christmas and headed for lunch at Barbarito's.  I inhaled a California burrito.  As Robert drove us home, I fell asleep.  It was that impossible-to-resist, super fatigued sleep that sometimes hits me after a hard workout.  I slept in the car for a while longer when we got home.  When I finally woke up, I don't think I had changed position the whole time.

Reindeer games are fun.