After almost 40 days-off the bike (road or mtb) I came back today in what ended been a longer ride than planned.
First thing I would like to tell you is that I got surprised about how dark the road was at 5:30am, if it wasn’t for my flashlight it would had been a very difficult and dangerous ride. In 30 minutos I was in Chinandega where Carlos was supposed to be waitting for me and together hit the road to Corinto. But Carlos wasn’t there, tried to reach him by phone (directly to voice mail), Whatsapp, no luck.
At the gas station were about fifteen riders ghatering, preparing, getting snacks. I had seen these guys before, they’re pros, good riders, federated riders so I’m not interested in riding with them. Theres no fun in being left behind at the first explosive acceleration. No news from Carlos yet.
It took me 1 minutes to decide, I went toward them and started to spontaneously chat with random guys. They told me the plan was ride to León and visit another rider friend of them that was recovering from a surgery.
Rolling to León was a pretty good experience. It was my first time rolling in a peloton even when in fact I was left behind at the fist explosive acceleration 5 kilometers before entering León. I was perseverant and continued pedaling alone even when I did’t know where we were going (the convalescent boy was their friend not mine), looking intensivelly for the last rider I could spot to get that last turn that let me catch them.
Long story short, I went up to visit a convalescent man that had no idea who I was but was very moved of seen his sikbed surounded by friends. After an hour or so of jokes and enless conversations about bikes, components and upgrades, the return was on.
Suffering. It was all suffering. 20kms of suffering. I was in a group of 5 riders. The group was packed for about 5 kilometers when two riders started the escape. I was nowhere close in position to respond neither interested. The reminder 2 riders where focused on keep me on track at a average speed of 30km/h. I was behind them protecting from the wind the whole trip.
At the end, the ride by the numbers:
- Distance: 73.31 Km
- Moving Time: 2hr 42m 59s
- Elevation: 588m
Thanks to those guys who kept with the rooky.