All week I daydream about a single, ordinary group ride. Saturday morning I wake up before the alarm clock, whirl up a sweet, creamy smoothie, jump on my bike and pedal over to the meeting spot five minutes from home. I have no interest in sleeping in since I found this ride.
The group I roll with is mostly the same, week after week. We always gather at the same place: they expect to see me here, I expect to see them. When I first joined the ride, I knew no one, but they accepted me as we all have something — the bike — in common. We quickly became friends.
Others in the group sometimes bring their friends along. A friend-of-a-friend on a bike is a friend almost without question. None of us would know each other otherwise. This one’s a software engineer. That one’s a medical device salesperson. She’s a lawyer. He’s a physical therapist.
We know everything about each other and are anxious to catch up after a week of more-or-less regular life, work, and other hum-drum activities that fill our time and get us to the weekend faster.
Where are we headed today? The ride will be long: 6,000 feet of climbing, eighty-plus miles. We’re building our base fitness, so we know we need to keep our heart rates down. The rule is: if you can talk comfortably without gasping, you’re riding at the right speed. Translated, this means plenty of miles of time to visit. It’s conversation at times, bike banter at others.
The talk ebbs and flows with the movement of bikes down the road, in traffic and on quiet roads. There’s joking, laughing, and taunting between the girls and the guys. It’s easy to forget about the distance or even the exact location.
The ride passes quickly and by the end, I’m tired — we’re tired. We detour to a stream that runs through town to soak our legs. We part and promise to see each other next Saturday morning. There is still a lot of time left in the day, since we started early.
I eat a tasty meal, take a walk, find my favorite spot in a beanbag chair and read myself to sleep. Each of these activities feels better after that group ride than it would have by itself. I have an overall feeling of satisfaction that I only experience after a group ride.
Tonight I will sleep better than I have all week. Tomorrow I will awake more ready for the day. Next Saturday is coming soon. I can’t wait.
