Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Marsinski A Road Fla

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Marsinski A Road Fla

Wake up in the dark with about 56F outside. I think about what I would wear in NJ which would be long pants and a base layer, but not in fla. I step outside to justify my thoughts and, yep.....it is a warm 56F if you can understand that. Normal shorts and SS jersey. Get on the bike and off I go to the beach. The road group meets at the intersection of Marsinski Dr and A1A in Jupiter Fla. The ocean is right there and there are a few riders warming up in the area. Each of us with our rear flashing lights. I have my Nite Rider Cherry Bomb flashing which I know can be seen all the way down the beach. Many of you riding behind one of these always complain about the insanely bright mesmorizing flashing light. As the time approches 7am the riders start to bring it in and say their morning greetings. I ask if it is OK if a norther joins the group. Out of the 10 standing there about half say they are from the north also. Now I know that i will have someone to hang with when I get dropped of the back. This is a fast group, what do you expect from riders who have 365 days of riding weather. By the time we start the group is about 20 strong. The first stretch is a warm up of about 5 miles along the beach. The chit-chat and banter starts as we move along at a comfortable pace of 20mph. We cross the bridge of the Jupiter inlet and over to the Jupiter Island road. This is the very weathly area where the homes have service entrances. This is where Tiger Woods lives. This area thought they had enough money and political pull to try and stop the bike riders from cruising thier streets but they lost that one with no appeal. It is not just Fason Lakes of Kinnelon who tried to stop riders. It happens all over the place.
The ride at this point is up to about 30 riders due to people joining in along the warm up ride. The pace picks up to about 23mph and the rotation of the riders in the front starts. This is when you need to be on your toes, or on your pedals because the pace very quickly goes to 25mph. A few more miles and the pace goes up again to a cruising speed of 26-28 with peaks of close to 30mph. I start to tuck myself into the back of the pack along with the other northerns. We are laboring to keep up at this point. A few more miles and the front group pulls off strong, I am sure they are 30+ mph. It is OK though, we know that when they reach the end point they will turn around and head back. This is when we get a chance to recover the legs and drink some sugars/fluids.
Here they come we see them ahead so we get ready to turn and grab on. They are moving in the low 20's mph until the group is all to gether again. Then it happens again. The speed picks up to the high 20's and I can feel my legs start to get heavy. This time there is no holding back. I stay on as long as possible as I notice people dropping of the back. Soon to be me. A few miles more and my spped goes from 28...27...26...25................alway down to 18. The head wind seems very strong about this time or maybe it is just me. I slowly make my way back to the inlet and sit my ass down on a bench to enjoy the sights of the boats going travling in and out of the inlet. By the way the Jupiter inlet is known as one of the worst inlets on the eastern seaboard. I have seen swells of 10-15 feet at the inlet with an ocean as smooth as a baby's behind just past it. After a phone calll or two I hope on the bike and head home down beach at a comfortable 18mph, sun shining, and temps in the high 70's. Now that is a ride.