Group Ride in Chicago - 37.8 miles

This was a great ride with great people.  I definitely had to work to keep up and not feel I was the one slowing down the group.  At times I felt a bit squirrelly with keeping the bike straight and stable.  This will work itself out as I gain experience I am sure.

Most of the ride was on streets with a small percentage on paved trails.  Surprisingly most of the roads had light traffic.

We departed about 12:30pm finished about 3:40pm.  We rode from Chicago to Cabelas in Indiana and back. Weather:  50° and sunny, Feels like 46°, 10 mph ESE wind and  Humidity 29%

My Garmin was about 6.5 miles short as along the ride I hit the pause button and did not hit resume till some time later. Manually adjusted time and distance on the website.

The photo below was taken just before we headed.  From left to right:  Jason Ward (me), Tam, Clay and Shawn.

BEFORE

I purchased a 2013 Trek Madone 4.5 less than 1 week before this ride.  It was the week it rained for a couple days in row and a lot of peoples basements flooded.  I put about 20 miles on this bike before I did this ride.  Previous to this road bike I rode a hybrid - big change.

Below picture Tam snapped this blackmail photo of me laying on the ground resting as I was genuinely hurting.  This ride was longer and the pace being faster than I was used to.

AFTER

In addition I was wearing a non vented rain jacket not made for cycling and a thermal long sleeve shirt.  Sweat was dripping from my cuffs - such a horrible feeling.  My toes were completely numb.  Later found that the cleat position on my shoes was too far forward and needed further adjustment.

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