The Old Denver Spoke Ride Saturday

i figured instead of going easy on saturday, i had to hedge my bets just in case the weather turned south sunday (which it did). so, i did the old denver spoke ride. the rider turnout was large. i figured with this many cycling hominids i can chill in the back and get a nice pacelining workout. everything was working out beautifully until the gruntish climb towards arrowhead golf course. remember now the pack was huuge. i move up to position myself with the faster riders so i don't have to close gaps. this burns a lot of needless energy. as a pack we're moving nicely and then i hear the jack-in-the-box song in my head then pop goes the weasel-meaning me. when i pop, i'm at the tail of the third (and unbeknownst to me, the last) group. i figured i'd peel back and hit up the group directly behind me. there was absolutely nobody behind me. this huuuge pack, at the beginning, was now whittled down to maybe a dozen or so riders. as i limp in to the summit of the turnaround we wait for more stragglers but no one shows up so we roll. again, i'm chillin' at the back, and don't you know? a gap forms. yes at the downhill portion. the leaders are absolutely drilling it on the downhill like there's no tomorrow. so we-the lazy guys-have to turn into this hard charging paceline from hell to close the gap but there's no way we're closing the gap. even the guys in the back of the leaders are pedaling furiously. it sucks being about 8 car lengths behind the leaders, with blood coming out of your eyes, and your legs absolutely pegged at terminal rpms, with lactic acid oozing out of your pores and you can't even close the gap by an angstrom. oh shnap, what is that i hear in the background? not pop goes the weasel again...pop! i'm off the back. well ain't that some sheeeyite.
i head back to the start and for penance for being dropped on a downhill i climb up deer creek a good bit until the downhill into tiny town. it's february here in colorado so the road up's still icy and covered in a sand/gravel mix. once i descend, it's about 2hours, so i do an hour cool down to total the time to three hours. ouchity-ouch-ouch. yeah boy. let sunday be snowfest, i got some time in today!
sho 'nuff sunday was a stinker. it hovered around freezing with a lovely 10 mph wind. i hit the rollers instead and let my manly bits go numb. all this so i don't lanternerouge this season...jeez.
other than boxing or mma, i know of no other sport where you have to tolerate such a high level of self-torture.