TrySports Wednesday night Group Bike Rides

Last night, I headed across Charlotte to check out the TrySports Wednesday night group rides. For three years that I have been hanging around the TrySports I have never been on one of our store's rides so I added it to my bucket list and checked it off last night.

TrySports does a group ride every Wednesday night at 6pm during the summer. Typically, the rides are broken into 3 groups: 20+ mph going 25 to 30, 17-19 mph going 25 to 30, and a 16 mph group going 20 to 25.

Since most of my rides are solo and I typically average between 15 and 17 mph, I was a little hesitate to jump into the B group and really didn't have any thoughts of jumping into the A group. Cyclist much like runners can be hard to judge just be looking at them. A guy that you think cannot ride at all will be flying down the road while someone who looks like he should be fast is barely hanging onto the group.

Just after 6pm all three groups started rolling out. First the A group rolled out. Then the B and C groups rolled.

I settled on the B group. I figured if they drop me, I could still find my way back to the store.

The first few miles were fairly easy. I found myself a nice sweet spot in the pace line and just tried to stay out of trouble.

The first few hills that we hit took a little bit of adjustment. They ride the hills pretty hard. Pick the right gear and you can stay with them. Pick the wrong gear like me and you struggle to the top. Luckily, I only did this once last night.

Most of the hills, I hung on pretty well.

Around 15 miles we hit this really long climb to the turn around. I struggled in the lower part of the climb but made it over the top and the ride back down was a piece of cake.

On the way back, we were passed by the A group. Man, they were moving. They looked like they were working hard and riding fast. Within minutes, they were out of sight.

Our group continued on staying together pretty well until we hit Rea Road again.

I guess these guys could smell the barn because the pace really picked up. My Garmin logged those miles at 27 mph. I was doing all that I could just to stay on the wheel of the guy in front of me and not once did I have any thoughts pulling out of his slip stream.

Definitely, it was a great experience and those were a lot of people in the B group.

The only negative point happened when this driver in a huge SUV passed us going 60+ mph and blowing his horn. Yeah, I know a huge group of Cyclist can be annoying to pass but if he had hit someone it would have changed his life and the life of the cyclist forever. Was that road rage really worth taking that chance?

I hope to become a regular on these rides and if my rides continue to improve maybe just maybe I I will try out the A group before the summer is over. I would love to join Chris and Layne to see what it feels like.

If you have a bike and enjoy riding through the Carolina country side, check out the TrySports Wednesday night group rides

 

Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner.