Racer Singles Bar

Meet the Team Ride from Kronda Adair on Vimeo.

This morning I represented Sorella at the women's meet the team ride. This is basically an opportunity for unattached racers looking for a team to check out different teams so they can find a good fit. When we rolled out, we had a group of about twenty or so riders, made up for 2-3 reps from each team and the unattached riders.

We spent some time doing introductions and talking briefly about our team. Sarah Tisdale was the other Sorella at the ride. She was quite modest about mention the fact that she's an Ironman now, but I took the liberty of bringing it up at every opportunity. One really should brag about doing something so ridiculously hard, even if it does prove you're insane...

We got going south on the Springwater and I sidled up to Jenn, (The second 'n' is silent- not JenN or Je-en), one of the freelancers. "How *you* doin'" I was smooth. I put all my best moves on her but she was pretty coy. Can't tell if she's really going to call.

Later when we went through Milwaukie, I picked a new target. I started to chat her up, but then the road turned uphill and she rode away from me like I was standing still. Hopefully I made a good impression on the descent.

I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. After leading the beginner women on bikes ride on Thursday, this was just what the Dr ordered. The point of the ride was to maintain a 'social' and 'conversational' pace, which, since I haven't been on a road ride in three months, meant it was just slow enough for me to keep up, but I'd pay for it later.

When we crossed the bridge in Oregon City and headed back north (and uphill) via Lake Oswego, I spent a lot of time trying stay in the upper half of the pack, but not look like I was killing myself to do it. But it was crystal clear to me that just about anyone there could have ridden away from me at any time. Makes me want to spend the winter doing intervals on the Dummy. But alas, some people climb and some crawl their way up hills so they can descend. I know which camp I'm in.

We passed a couple of groups of runners who were impressed with our style and numbers. A group of women running a trail along Hwy 43 hooted and hollered as we went by, so we hollered back. Later we passed a group of teenage guy runners who started mock racing us down the road.

The ride went pretty smoothly over all, except for a couple of tip overs when one woman didn't unclip soon enough after a missed turn. There was another crash at a red light on State St, but I didn't see who it was. It was great to have a huge group and just take over the lanes on State St and the Sellwood bridge.

When we got back, I rewarded myself with an egg and cheese bagel from Kettleman's, and then went on my daily trip to Seven Corners to check on the state of Jess's Cross Check. It's not done yet, but the rims and the spokes were out...