As I reviewed our weekly schedule, Day 3 worried me the most. Last night we had a great meal prepared by Allen and Michael. Alcohol was consumed by some of the campers and you could see everyone starting to interact. The filters in the group were starting to come down and it was great to see the interaction amongst the group. With the filters coming down it lead to more questions this morning. Why are we doing..........(insert any one of a number of questions here). It always amazes me when you get a group together how certain individuals can't accept certain things as they are and go with the flow. This also marked day 3 of riding and some people were getting tired. With a rest day schedule for tomorrow I just wanted to get the miles in, have no crashes and head into the recovery day healthy and with everyone still talking to each other.
The morning started out with a run followed by breakfast. A few opted to go swim long course. We had a 10 o'clock departure time and a few folks were running a little late. Very few clouds in the sky and no wind so we were excited to ride today. the plan called for 70 miles and only a few of us made it that far today.
The ride got off to a rough start with a few mechanical issues and some bitching in the group about the route and a few other things. It was five miles into the ride and I strongly considered taking a flyer off the front to be by myself. Then Kathy and I road on some freshly paved tar which wasn't marked. Another stop. Then my water bottle cage bolt came loose, another stop..more bitching... The route we were going to take was under construction and we took one wrong turn. We eventually made our way out to Lake Mead and road most of the same route we did on the first day but it seemed like it took forever to get going and you could feel the tension in the group from the rough start. After we got going the group became more chatty and the camaraderie we experienced the first two days came back.
Kathy, Bill and I were off the front and pace lined it through the park. The others were not far behind. We stopped to regroup then rode a short but steep hill out of the park. On the way back Kathy jumped the group from the back and I followed. I wanted to see who in the group would follow or if the group was content to just sit in today. After a few pulls I looked back and saw a few chasing. I told Kathy here they come and we continued to work hard to drop the chase group. It was fun to ride like this with Kathy again. Since my injury in 2008 we have ridden very little together and this reminded me of good ole times. Our breakaway was successful and we regrouped outside of the Las Vegas Bay harbor. A few more photos and we decided to experminent with a few side roads to see if we could add some miles to our route. We ended up riding the Lake Las Vegas loop and had decided to do this hilly loop 3-4 times. On Loop one Johns deralieur broke..another stop. We were 50 miles into the route and John was done for the day. Kathy took off to get the truck so she could pick him up. the rest of us decided that we weren't going to get our 70 miles in and headed back home logging 60 miles. Karen, Trish and Connor who had elected to ride together today becasue they were of similar paces made the 70 miles and let the rest of us know they made the goal and we didn't.
When we got home it was time to relax pool side, drink some beers and head into the recovery day. Everyone is looking for to tomorrow which consists of an early morning swim (no masters, we will run our own group) and a 30 mile recovery ride.
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