HAMMERHEADS

Today I finally found the courage to ride with the Benicia Bike Club, our city's local club. I see them all the time, a pack of them riding in their red and yellow jerseys on the same road I train on. They've invited me to ride with them on different occassions, all of which I've declined, until today.

The "President" of the club assured me that there are different ranges of ability on the team. I would soon find out that those ranges are "fast" and "faster." Some of the guys actually race. I wasn't worried about them, I just wanted to keep up.

We started out with a "friendly" pace that soon kicked into a competitive "race" pace. Gaps started forming among the riders as the fastest riders pushed far up the road. I was doing all I could just to hang on to the wheel of the guy in front of me. These guys were really fast, I was impressed. They dropped me after only four miles but I was exhilirated. I've never gone that fast for that long.

What may have been embarrassing for others was motivating for me. Know I knew what I was up against and what I needed to do to get to the next level.

So here's the plan: back to spin class, watch the diet, get strong and ride a lot. I promptly went home and said, "Hon, I need a new bike." (Even though I have a nice bike that's practically brand new. It's one of the symptoms of being a cyclist, the perpetual search for the fastest, lightest, newest bike.)

There's hope, we met one of the guys who use to be at my level, the pack would leave him in the dust. Now, two years later, he's one of the strongest and on that day, he was the first to the finish.