fast cory's ride

My initial email said:

Cory's Ride is Saturday; I forgot to register. Are any of youse planning to go?

... but I had a slow day at work, and I got to thinking... and later I sent this:

Folks, I think I'm gonna take a respectful pass. I'm planning to do the ride, but I want to see if I can do it at an average of over 17-17.5mph. I rarely get a chance to do a course this long, marked, with SAG support, and I'm going to take advantage of this. The idea has been eating a hole in my head all day.

Luckily, I have understanding friends. I got this reply from Laura OLPH:

Jim has the need for speed.  Let him get that A rider out of his system so that he can re-join the Slugs next week.

(She also has a somewhat optimistic view of my abilities... but she's right on the money on the "getting it out of my system" thing.) And this from Dave C:

I wish you luck. I would join you but I have 180miles in already this week. Let us know how you get on I expect a full mile by mile report on the blog. Oh full bragging rights expire after 21days.  

Well, I wasn't sure how much bragging I was going to be doing. I met Dave and Little Joe at the ride start, and Dave gave me the tips on time trials: about breaking the course into smaller units, and allowing more time for the first so I didn't burn myself up, and trying to do the last faster than the others. I tried to keep to his advice, but I found I was way faster than I expected in the first part of the ride, forgetting to take into account the tailwind, which would be a headwind later. I also found, after about 30 miles, that it was taking longer and longer to recover from an uphill; when I got to a flat section after an uphill, sometimes I couldn't get up to fast cruising speed, even after a quarter-mile or so (even grinding on the downhills got tough).

Still, I not only met my goal, I blew right through it. Here's the link to my result. I'm not "A" rider material, but I'm very happy with that average and time.

The ride organizers provide a lunch starting at 11:30; when I got back at about 10:20, one of the support staff asked in dismay, "Are the riders coming back? Do we need to get the food out already?" THAT was oddly gratifying; I assured her she did not.

One sour note: I was first to the rest stop, and met one of the support staff I had first met when I did the Anchor House Ride two years ago. I mentioned that I was a member of the Freewheelers, and she had a complaint about the club's large groups riding four and five abreast. I expect complaints from people who are not riders, but this is a person who has worked support on the Anchor House ride for years, and whose husband rides. I'm afraid I think that we must take seriously complaints from this kind of person. I'm composing an email that might get sent to the membership (at the risk of sounding like a grouch... but, then, that would be in-character for me).