Chick Ride...

Yesterdays ride ended up being fantastic! We all met down by Lake Minneola and did Nic's "Dog Loop". I named it that due to a point in the ride where you have to be ready to SPRINT away from two big dogs that escape under a hole in the fence out on a country road. At first I thought she was kidding, "Just yell at them while you are sprinting away...and don't make any noise as we approach the house...they will hear us" Nic told me calmly. "WHAT"?! If I ever encountered these dogs on my own, I would CERTAINLY never revisit that loop again, BUT I was with company, and Nic and I had done the loop earlier in the week (without running into the dogs, thankfully). However, my heart still raced as we approached the house...I'm a huge wimp! Luckily, no dogs again, though we DID have a "kamikaze" little dog run out at us and almost wedge itself under my tire at one point during the ride!

The four of us headed out from the lake (see pic from left to right: me, Nic Guembel, Cynthia Wilson, Jacqui Gordon). Jacqui was the only one with a real "agenda" for the day. I had to ride 3+ hours, but easy with no efforts for that particular day. A sort of "recovery" type ride. Nic just wanted to ride easy, and Cynthia was only going out for a bit since she just arrived here from Canada (a long drive down)! Jacqui had to ride "steady" with 4x10 min "Zone 4" intervals mixed in. We let her lead the way. She was strong from the start! We gladly drafted her, though it is not very easy to draft such a tiny person on the bike! While Jacqui did her 10 min HARD intervals, Nic and I would ride steady (around Ironman pace) and she would meet up again on her rest periods. For the remainder of the ride we followed along, pushing a great pace!

I was really happy to be able to coordinate a ride with Jacqui while we were down here and it was great doing a ride like that with 3 other Pro women! It isn't something that I get to experience often, so it is nice when I get the opportunity! For tomorrow, a LONG steady ride for me. I should be ready for a great ride tomorrow after the steady ride the other day with the girls and a "rest day" today! Luckily, I will again have company to mix up the ride a bit. Then one more epic ride before home! The last epic ride, however, may be mostly or ALL solo as many people down here will be racing "Florida's Great Escape Triathlon" on Sunday. I've ridden SO many long rides ALONE in my career of racing Ironman, but I find as I get "older" (I cringe at the thought!) I really look for company out there. Ironman IS a "lonely sport" out on the bike, however, so the solo rides are great for concentration and learning how to push yourself mentally and physically. I've found that it's great to mix it up (some solo, some with friends)! I look forward to tomorrow and hope to have some great stories (minus angry dogs)!