Back in the Brumby's

Saturday morning was a cold morning, it was very hard to get out of bed and I was not sure if I was up to it. I had many chances and temptations to bag on my idea of trying to make Saturday morning the day I would come out of recovery and join the Brumby's. The route they selected was not as much climbing as other routes they had and with my Mountain biking on Thursday I figured the knee was good for it. I must confess though that I had hopes I would be able to go all the way around but wasn't sure about it.



To be at Val Vista and Hermosa Vista by 6:30 I had to be on the road at 6 which of course meant a 5:30 am wakeup. It was pretty early and it was cold, very hard to get out of bed but I did it. I got on the road at 6:05 and even though I mistakenly got on Greenfield and overshot Hermosa Vista I pulled up right as they were leaving so I didn't even have to cool down. I hung out at the back figuring I would be able to fall off if my knee complained. We had around 20-30 cyclists and as we made out way out to the beeline people rotated back I I moved up the line. Gilbert road was a pain as a sidewind means everyone works as hard as the guy pulling so it was pretty ruthless for a few miles. Back on the Beeline though things got a bit easier until we were climbing. by the time we hit the hills I was the 6th or 7th cyclist back in the line. We almost got gapped once but pulled it together. I had to keep telling myself I would hold on until the next hill with every hill. I was extremely pleased to find that although I had not ridden with them for nearly 3 months I was still holding on. In fact, aerobically I faired better than my muscles which started to burn as we got further along. On the last hill my knee twinged slightly but we were within a quarter mile of the hilltop and I was so close I determined I would hold the mob over th hill.



Going down the other side a cyclist near me observed her thermometer said 31 degrees. Consulting my own I found it at 28 degrees. That's pretty cold. I had been working hard enough I hadn't noticed other than numb fingertips. They did not stop at the gas station so after we crossed the verde I had a short conversation with Chris (the other guy at the back) about bike commuting and then I dropped off.