riding with joe

it is tuesday, 27 december, about 1514 hours pm in the afternoon, i just got home from a ride. 

today i rode 48 km, it was a good ride, it was about 35 degrees out, my feet and ears are a bit chilly despite being covered in what i thought was adequate protection. 

today's ride all started yesterday on facebook.  i had posted the status update "i have lost my will to suffer."  a friend, joe, said i should go for a ride with him, no suffering, so i agreed.  

joe is a badass.  he has type 1 diabetes, and last year was going to do a century a month for ten months.  He did eight centuries.  the guy is strong, and pretty damn cool.  i was intimidated, but i knew i should ride with him.  first off, when i ride alone, it's just too damn easy to cut my ride short, turn around, and go back to riding a couch.  second, i knew if i rode with him, we would be talking and i could ride a bit faster than i normally would have, and finally, if i committed to riding with someone, i knew i wouldn't blow off my ride.

so today at 1:00 in the afternoon, we met outside his house and took off.   we rode at a good pace, talked, the weather wasn't too bad, a bit chilly, but thankfully no wind.  30 miles later, i am  home.  and i felt great during the whole ride.   who knows, perhaps i am getting stronger?  we took it easy, about 15mph the whole way, and it was pretty flat. 

either way, i had a great ride, and i feel pretty damn good.  i look forward to my next ride with joe.