Drilled

Hey Guys,
I've been feeling pretty motivated this week and I decided to jump in on the local group ride. I've known of the local Hammerheads' "Tuesday Night World Championship" for the past year, but never joined because of many different but equally weak excuses. I finally made a point to leave work early on Tuesdayy and jump in. I rode twenty minutes to the spot, introduced myself and asked if I would have enough gears on my cross bike (46-12). They said that I was more than welcome to join and try to hang on. As I was waiting the local strong dudes trickled in (TJ Tollackson - Pro long course triathlete, Stuart Hayes - UK ITU pro, Cam Kirkpatrick - 5th Elite at WORS Subaru cup, JJ Bailey - Elite national AG triathlete, and sevearl CAT1 fast cats that I couldn't identify). I was looking for a challenge and I was going to get my wish ... and then some.
The first 30 minutes were at a nice easy pace as we rode away from downtown Des Moines to the country roads. It is awesome to ride for just a few miles before your out on smooth country roads with minimal traffic and plenty of rolling hills. There were a few decent hills and a couple hard accelerations out of corners that got the heart pumping early. The next thing I know I had slipped near the back of the group and the front blew the doors off. Before I realized what happened I was already gapped. I turned myself inside out for 1 minute ... 2 minutes ... 3 minutes .... sit up and spin. Boy, that escalated quickly... I mean, that really got out of hand fast! It really jumped up a notch. I wish I could blame it on running out of gears, but unfortunately that was not the case. I formed a small group with a few other shredded riders and pacelined in the wake of the larger group up the road. I took a little pride in the fact that I had never been dropped in a race or by a group before. I guess my number was up.
I know that I've been coasting with my training this year, making small improvements on inconsistent training. These hard group efforts are exactly what I've needed to remind me of where I'm at (spit out the back of the pack) and where I'm trying to go (trading pulls at the front). I'm going to keep going back and getting knocked out until I run out of gear before I run out of leg.

Tim