My First 'Long Ride'

So after the National Duathlon Championships, Gershwynn suggested that I should get a couple long rides under my belt to improve my strength in the cycling portion of the race. Long rides = Get better? Sign me up!

It was Saturday 12^th April 2014. Gershwynn rides with a team called SR which is made up of a group of uber enthusiastic , very serious leisure riders who seem like a fun bunch pre and post cycling. The team assembles at Starlite pharmacy in Diego Martin and uses that as the start point. It costs just about $60 TT ($10 USD) to do the ride and for that you get 2 police outriders, a guy on a motorcycle following closely and helping stragglers (he will be mentioned again in this post) and someone in a flat bed truck with a sign that read “Cyclists on the Road”. I was comforted by the professionalism and felt a lot better that I will not be endangering my life. After all this was the FIRST TIME I ever cycled on the open road. I had no idea what was in store but jumped right in.

The ride for today was from Starlite to a place in east Trinidad called Wallerfield. I knew it was a long ride, but for some reason my curiosity did not inveigle me to check the distance. To be honest, it didn't matter because I felt that either way, I will be completing it.

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 Luckily I knew one other person on the ride, Jason Gooding, who is a former national champion in Triathlon and the race organizer for the Rainbow Cup Triathlon that I will be doing in Tobago.

As the ride started, the group or peloton was moving at an okay enough speed. I was advised to hang to the back for obvious reasons and I complied with strict obedience. All this time, so many thoughts and emotions running through my head. I didn't want to mess up, that’s for sure. These guys were ‘professionals’ in their own right so I didn't want to be the newbie that came and messed up their Saturday morning workout.

Gershywnn and Jason were good in advising on how I should stay with the pack. It was important that I get into the ‘draft’ of the cyclist in from of me. Sounds simple enough right…NOPE. And I paid the price for it.

As the ride went on, the speed started to increase…rapidly. I thought to myself..’Well Kairon, you know you are a ‘just come’ cyclist, but these guys are moving pretty fast’ I kept it to myself because I didn’t want to seem like a whiner but then both Jason and Gershwynn confirmed that they were moving pretty fast. I think it was an average of 34 km/h. To make matters worse, I was having difficulty gauging the distance between my front tire and the back tire of the rider in front of me. This indecision was largely influenced by my desire to not cause an accident by clipping the other rider and be banished from the local cycling fraternity after only my first ride. As the gap widened, I lost the benefit of the draft which meant I was fighting the wind coming up the road for the entire time. Baptism by fire me thinks. But in this case, baptism by wind and speed.

The anguish was beginning to show. I think we had ridden about 16 miles by that time and heading further east. A combination of the speed of the pack, the wind in my face and the widening gap started to become a problem. My confidence was dropping very fast because I felt out of my depth. Much thanks to the older gentleman in the all black who rode past with a face adorned with displeasure at my obvious amateur attempts to ride with the ‘big guns’ and felt it fit to yell ‘He should be in the back!!!’ . This in addition to a few audible snickers did wonders for my confidence (sarcasm). Thankfully Jason reminded me not to pay them any mind and to just keep fighting.

With all of these factors combining and the fatigue becoming an issue, I ALMOST reached a point of cracking, pulling to the side of the road and waving the white flag. I needed some help. Earlier on in the ride, Jason would ride up to the side of me and push me closer to the pack. Enter the man on the motorcycle. Unbeknownst to me, that is what he is there for, to assist persons who are struggling. And well, in this case, he was there to assist me because the struggle was REAL!!

 Mr. Chan (I think that is what his name was) rode alongside me on the motorcycle and would push me closer to the pack. I was SO GRATEFUL for this, I don’t even know if he understood how much.

Mr. Chan in his biker's jacket

At the rest stop

Sidenote…The intermittent push gave me a chance to rest a bit but also allowed me to remember that I was supposed to go ‘off saddle’ every so often..because DAMN. If you are new to cycling, regardless of if you have on the right pants, the seat hurts ‘down there’. I think the blood flow stops altogether which makes the whole process of coming off the saddle all the more important and an INDESCRIBABLE relief.

With the help of Mr. Chan, and my general resolve I was able to make it to the rest stop. At the stop, we got hydrated with water and other beverages, and had some fruit as well, banana, watermelon and oranges if I remember correctly. It was a good opportunity to bring the heart rate back down and refuel for this was only the first half. The only comfort was knowing that we would have the wind at our backs on the way down making things easier.

The 'Special One' aka my bike, just chilling on the fence

The return leg was a bit more manageable. I had a much better time of the trip heading back down the road. I even impressed myself at times, staying in the middle of the pack, and not being the subject of mutters and curse words from the more established cyclists. I didn’t feel like I was out of my depth, which did wonders for the self esteem. The speed was quite brisk as well but I was right there with them. After a couple of sprint segments on the highway by the Beetham and then lower down on the fore shore, our ride was complete.

I was very proud of myself. I reached back to the car and said a very quiet ‘Thank you Jesus’ because I made it. The ride was 50 miles in total and took just about 2 and three quarter hours. Before this, the longest I had ever ridden was 11 miles and 42 minutes. So my body was properly shocked. I hope to join SR on more of their rides and intend to improve with each one. Special thanks to Gershwynn, Jason and Mr. Chan on the motorcycle for helping me through. 

Image of the ride