I tried the ‘Thrasher Ride’ today.

It’s a 25’ish mile cycling ride which meets every week day and is only a few minutes from my house at the intersection of Bradley Blvd and Goldsboro Road in Bethesda, MD. I have never ridden with them, so it will be an experiment. Although I just read this...

“You want to know suffering? Come do the Thrasher Hill Ride tomorrow with us. If you don't have snot covering your top tube, your jersey, your shorts and you've not puked at least once, then you didn't ride hard enough.”

I changed out of work clothes in my car 1 block away from the ride start and hopped on my bike. I realized I forgot a water bottle and would have no fluids for the ride. O well, it is what it is!
One guy was already there and I went over to talk with him. His name was Randy and said he ‘owned’ the ride. He also said that Monday and Friday or pretty slow and T, W, and Th are fast. It was a Friday so I was looking forward to a slower ride since I have been abusing my body for the past few weeks with lots of running and fast group bike workouts.

A few more cyclists showed and we set off down Bradley toward Potomac. The route was north on Bradley, through Potomac, south on Clara Barton, back to start. Within the first mile our pack had grown to about 12. My new buddy Greg, an amazing cyclist, had also joined and we chatted it up. O’ the pace increased as well. Six miles in we were in a fast rotating pace line averaging 23-25 mph. This was NOT my kind of ‘slower’ ride, but I was having fun.

11.5 miles into the 25 mile ride I was holding on for dear life. Still in the rotating pace line, I knew I would not last much longer. Geez, if Fridays are slow, what is the pace on a T, W and Th??? Well, finally the freight train inched ahead of me. The gap grew to about 6 feet, I lost the advantage of the pace line draft and my quads where screaming at me. I could not hold on and it was all over. The train pulled away leaving me in its dust.

I knew the rest of the route and limped back to my car alone with tail between my legs. I drove directly to the closest McDonalds for a giant Iced Tea, to quench my thirst from not having a water bottle, and the day was done.

Tomorrow (Saturday), is another day with a 55 mile Potomac Peddler Group ride and a 7 mile run afterwards. One of these days I will take a day off.