Since I was in San Antonio most of the week for work and driving back and forth I didn't get much riding in except for my ride in San Antonio. Sunday before I left for San Antonio I got out on Lime Creek and hit the hill. Talking to a few other riders I've heard the hill referred to as the 3 Sisters and the 3 Witches. Since the 3 Sisters to me is the mountain pass outside of Evanston, WY on the East side on I-80, I'll start calling it the The Witches. The Three Sisters in Wyoming is 7,470 feet compared to the 961 feet of the Limecreek Hill. I made it up the hill in 4:19, which is a new personal record, my prior best was 4:21.
On Friday I was able to get out again and this time I went to Volente and back. On this ride I set two personal records. I did the 20 miles in 1:06:16. That was 3 minutes better than my previous fastest time. The second record was my time up the Three Witches. This time I made it up in 4:16, so my previous mark didn't last long. I averaged 18.21 MPH for the ride, the section from the top of the hill to my turn around in Volente my average speed was 21 mph. On the way back on Anderson Mill a gardening crew turned onto Anderson in front of me, they didn't cut me off or anything, but they didn't get up to the 45 MPH speed right away. I was catching up to them at 30 mph.
Saturday I got out for a club ride with the Spin City crew. This was the first time I have ridden with them. I went out with the intermediate ride which was suppose to be between 15 and 19 mph, they also have a beginner ride. The ride was a 30 mile ride from Milburn Park to Liberty Hill. Out to Liberty Hill my average speed was 18.9 mph. The group of 10 got split into 2 groups. I was in the 2nd group with 2 other rides, about 5 miles from Liberty Hill I tried to close the gap and catch the 1st group. I thought one of the other riders was going to come along, but they slowed a bit on the inclines so I was on my own in the cross wind all the way to Liberty Hill. In my attempt to bridge the gap I was cruising between 24 and 30 mph. We turned around at the Country Store in Liberty Hill after a 5 minute break.
On the way back the group was getting split up again, but this time I was going to be more proactive and try to stay with the front group. Again I thought I was going to have help from one other rider but as I broke away to the next group she didn't come with me. I was on my own and this time into the wind. The front group of 5 were working together it looked like and as the wind started whipping it really started to sap my energy. I never did catch the front group and was on my own bucking the wind all the way from Liberty Hill to the stop light of 2243 and Bagdad. While I had to stop at the light the rest of the group caught up. I rode back to Milburn Park with the group. Facing the wind my average speed was 17.42 mph.
One thing I need to work on is my positioning in the group. On a few occasions I couldn't keep up with the group when they would surge ahead because we were riding 2 up and the person in front of me couldn't or wouldn't stay with them when the front would surge ahead. There were a few times I was better positioned by being on the outside that I could maneuver around other riders if I needed to.
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