Saturday, 6th March 2010

48.61 miles, total climb 1,922ft, average speed 13.2mph

I was somewhat anxious the night before this ride.  Dunno why, maybe it’s coz I know I’ve been slacking lately so there was the worry of being found out as a purely average rider by my peers.  Maybe it was coz it was a tough-ish week and I was just angry that I had to wake up early and get my arse out of bed and to the upper west side in time for the 8.30am orientation meeting.

Whatever it was, thankfully it passed pretty quickly when I was on the bike and the joy of group riding was quickly rediscovered.

So, I did the C-Sig in 2008, then the B-Sig last year, now there’s no avoiding it, it’s the dreaded and feared A-Sig for me, well, sorta.  I opted for A-19 which is slightly easier than the appropriately named A-Classic but after twelve weeks of this training course I’ll be as good a cyclist as you can be while still working full time.

There were familiar faces aplenty and luckily for me, old chums Vero, Katie, Abraham and Lawrence are all in the same A-19 so I’ll get to ride with each of them.

Our leaders today were wonderful, so thanks to Angel and Justina for a splendid job.  They started us off slow and perhaps we’ve been lulled somewhat into a false sense of security but after a winter off the saddle it was the perfect way to go and bluntly I’d likely have struggled any other way.

Anyway, there you have it, another year of riding and another year of photos (and some movies) from yours truly.  Hope you dig ‘em.