Ride for Angels w/SpiderOne Racing

SpiderOne Racing @ Ride for Angels

My SpiderOne ride on Sunday was a team effort supporting the Ride for Angels out of North Andover -- a charity ride benefitting Angel Flight NE. It was a gorgeous ride -- probably one of the better routes I've been on all year -- and definitely a ride I'll do again. In addition to a spectacular route along the back roads of the Merrimack, it was well marked, had great rest stops, and the folks involved, (volunteers and organizers), were super friendly. Everyone should consider adding this one to their ride calendars next year!

I had a fun day with the Spiders, and rode my fastest 40k at 1:27 (25 miles at 17.2 mph avg.) while hanging on to fellow spider Serie Keezer for about 18/20 miles -- until one big hill beat me down, and another rider and I dropped back and lost Serie. Given my penchant for missing route arrows, (ha ha), I stuck with the other rider, (wearing an SPD Ride to Remember jersey, an upcoming ride honoring fallen Massachusetts police officers), to our first rest stop, where the Spiders regrouped. It was a faster start for me, and I was kind of thrilled to be able to hang on to Serie for as long as I did.

The remaining 40+ miles went pretty quickly. We stayed together as a group for a few miles (after each succcessive rest stop), and would then split up into smaller groups, reconnecting at each rest stop along the way. A few miles from the finish, everyone regrouped one final time to close out the ride and cross the finish line together. It was a really terrific team ride -- the camaraderie made the seventy miles seem easy -- and I got to ride with coach Shayne for a while, too. It was a pretty great day.