Blame blinky light

Season Miles: 1,667

Things were not supposed to work out this way today. Nope. The plan was to do a short, easy ride on the new Roubaix today to test the new computer on it. Short and easy because I would have to go out after a lunch meeting at noon, meaning a ride later under the hot sun.

Either someone once told me or I once read that it's not a good idea to ride right after a meal. As I recall it was something about your stomach using blood and oxygen to digest food instead of sending that needed fuel to your legs.


I guess I might have been all right today if I hadn't seen old blinky light I'll call him.


First of all, I'm glad the new Cateye computer is working just fine. I'll have to get used to the new display and the fact that, unlike my old Flightdeck, I have no digital display of what gear I am in.


So things were going fine in the parkway heading toward 76th...my original plan of just the Loomis 26-mile route.

That's when I saw a rider up ahead with one of those blinking red lights flashing on the back of his saddle bag in the middle of the day. I figured to myself, 'How fast can a blinky light rider be going? I'll try to close the gap."


I'll tell you how fast a blinky bike rider can go...faster than me!
For quite a while I was getting nowhere chasing this guy. I was just about to give up when I got mad at myself and decided to ramp it up now.


Just before 76th street I finally caught the guy, a silver mustache, sleeveless jersey and guess what kind of bike? Yup, Specalized. What is it with these guys? Are all Specialized riders fast?


I got up next to him and said, "You're killing me. Thanks for being a carrot for me. I was working on closing the gap."


Crossing 76th I told him to enjoy his ride and away he went. But as I approached 76th I noticed he too was turning around there. Well, I didn't want to seem like a stalker. Looked to me like he was going to stop and perhaps load his bike into a parked vehicle there.


I made a bad decision at that point. I didn't want to seem like perhaps I was trying to stay with him, so I went straight with the plan now being 36 miles on the longer 3 Bridges route.


After a few miles in...what the heck??? It's blinky light dude next to me asking how I like my Roubaix!


Then he took the point and again I made a poor decision. I grabbed his wheel, and mile after mile he was pulling toward the Milw. Co. Sports Complex.


He on his red Specialized in red riding clothes and me on my blue Specialized in my blue riding clothes. I wasn't supposed to be doing this. What was i doing?! 18-19 mph constant, although I was drafting.


I could just about hear Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen broadcasting this as a breakaway in the Tour de France. They'd put that graphic up on the screen showing the Italian in blue was doing 0% of the work at the front and talk about what a tool I was for not helping the break. But the truth would actually be that I had nothing. I was lucky to be hanging onto his wheel.


He peeled off just before the complex. I rode down to the end of the road and turned around.


That's when I realized I only had ONE water bottle. Remember, this was supposed to be  a short ride. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I was now rationing a quarter bottle of warm water with no place to get more.


I limped home for most of the second half of the ride. The final 5 miles or so were a real pain.


I was very glad when I finally got home and off the bike.


New stat on this computer now too..average cadence...which today was 88.

36 miles, Three Bridges route
Sunny and warm, 85-ish
Wind 5-10