Day 1, officially.

Ok, in my quest to lose the extra poundage (hey, its not a quest, its a mission, dammit!) I went on the Wednesday night ride in Indy upon the urging of my friend and fellow builder Tim O'Donnell. Tim said, "hey man, its a piece of cake. It only does 19-20 mph."
Ok, so I packed up Bertha and headed to meet him and the rest in Broad Ripple. It was cloudy, windy and about 55 degrees, which is at my "minimum" temperature level that I will ride in until I have lost the weight and can buy some decent winter clothes that will fit me.

I warmed up at the back of the group, which is fine with me. I know not where the ride goes, so I dont have any business up front. All was fine until we hit the potholed hill at Butler. I stood up and pulled my rear wheel when I hit a deep hole. I stopped and tightened the QR as fast as I could, but the 30 seconds of stopping and doing the fix and getting back on the bike was enough for me to lose contact for good. I chased hard, but, lets face it...its my first ride of the year and hockey shape will only get me so far. I blew. I kept riding and eventually managed to see them ahead at a stoplight. Just as I got back on, they took off and kind of hard, too. I didnt maintain contact for very long. Damn. I managed to pick up a couple who were kind enough not to drop me on the way back. They stopped off at Butler for some unknown reason and I kept going back to where Bertha was parked. All in all, it wasnt a bad ride. I got in an hour+ and about 18-19 miles. My back hurt a little, but thats expected my first time out.

FWIW, Tim talked me into tonights ride at Nebo. I think I'll stick to the slower group, provided I can hang with them.

New report tomorrow.

DW