Hurst Hammick

This past Saturday saw the Firestone & Summit Group ride the Hurst Hammick Route, one of my favorite routes. Thirteen riders, including one Hand Cyclist, started the ride. We had David Mayo, Dana, Happy, Nester, Left Lane, Bugno, the Count, Retro Dave, and others who I don't remember their names. Several of us had been at the Wheelmen party the night before and might have stayed up a bit too late and/or enjoyed ourselves a little more than we should have. We lost one rider heading out to the Hammick; I think it was voluntary.

The ride out to the Hammick was fairly calm with a tailwind. The group would split and then regroup quite a bit. It seems we lost another rider coming out of the Hammick; for some reason he never showed up at the first rest stop; we did wait quite a while. We all hoped he didn't take a left on Hwy 90 and head to Alabama.

For some reason I was the last to leave the first rest stop and got delayed at the light on 9 Mile and Beulah Road, so I ended up chasing the lead group. I finally caught up with them about 500 yards onto Muscogee Road. I then was dropped again after the Happy RR Crossing when the road went up. Happy decided he wanted to attack after the tracks; I was maxed out after all the chasing and couldn't hold on. I briefly caught back up after making the right onto 97 at the bottom of the hill and crossing RR tracks again. But, that was short lived as the road went up again. Even after the road leveled out there was no catching the group with the head wind. I ended up riding solo until the second rest stop where every one was waiting for me. Thanks guys for waiting. That head wind was brutal and I sure didn't want to ride the rest of the ride without some protection.

The third segment saw the group splitting a bit. We did regroup briefly at Palafox before heading down Johnson where we split again. I ended up in a four man group that had a fairly relaxing ride down Johnson and back to Maygarden. Nester jumped with about 500 meters to go and I think took the line followed by Bugno. I say I think because when Nester jumped I didn't even react; so I wasn't there.

It was a nice ride, but really wore this rider out. I haven't ridden much lately and it showed. Several of the other riders seem to be in good shape and raring to push the pace on the front. After the ride I went home, ate lunch, and then took a nap. Later in the evening I was hurting. That ride had taken a lot out of me. On the plus side I feel that I was about in the middle of the group which isn't too bad considering how little I've been able to ride the last several months. I hope after the first of the year that I can start riding more and get back into shape.

My training partner will be returning home next week from college. That should help with the motivation and hopefully the two of us will be able to ride with the group over the Christmas holidays. I have added the route to MapMyRide.