A Weekend of Personal Bests

September 2026

Some weekends you plan out and some weekends just happen to you. This was the second kind. I went in expecting one normal group ride and one easy recovery spin. Instead I walked away with two personal records I wasn’t chasing. Funny how that works.

My First Road-Only Group Ride

Every group ride I’ve done up to this point has been a mix of pavement and gravel, with Hackett Hill being the biggest challenge. With Hackett confidently in the rearview mirror, I was ready to see what else I could handle. So, on Friday morning, I woke up extra early to squeeze in a road ride before work. The route had close to 1,000 feet of elevation, and I knew going in that it was going to be a new test.

The climbing was hard, as expected. The descents were not. I hit 37 mph on one of the downhills, which was a new speed record for me, and I was still feathering the brakes. Now that I know the route, I’ll probably open it up a little more next time. There’s a unique combination of fear and excitement that comes with going that fast. I wonder just how much faster I could have gone if I’d actually let go of the brakes.

Riding with the usual group, but on a proper road route instead of our normal mixed-surface rides, felt different too. I ended up riding faster than I expected, and I could feel that I’m getting more powerful with every ride, not just more comfortable. The encouragement from the other riders helped too. A few of them mentioned that they could see the improvement in my riding every week, which is always nice to hear when you’re the one who usually has no idea how you’re actually doing. To be honest, I feel that I have been a bit stagnant in my cycling skills from always running the same routs weeks over week when solo. These help shake things up a bit.

I also got lucky and avoided another flat. Our ride leader was not so lucky. He had his second flat in three days, and both happened on rides I was on. At this point, he’s basically tanking all the bad luck for the rest of us. I will thank him for his service.

The Ride That Kept Going

This was supposed to be a zone 2 maintenance ride. Ten easy miles, shake out the legs and come back before lunch. Instead it turned into my longest ride ever, clocking in at over 40 miles.

I started in Easton and just kept going south along the D&L Trail, all the way down to Frenchtown, NJ and back. The route itself made the extra miles easy to justify. Heading south out of Easton, you leave Northampton County and cross into Bucks County, while following the Delaware River the whole way down. The mountains stay in view for most of the ride too, providing beautiful scenery that I never tire of seeing. While crossing the bridge into Frenchtown, I ran into friends who were out doing their own epic ride. They spotted my Bianchi from across the bridge before they even saw me, a compliment to that bike’s uniqueness. I decided to eat lunch in Frenchtown to replenish my energy for the ride back. I went with a delicious chicken hummus wrap. Apparently, this is what all the cyclists were doing. I think I saw at least 100 bikes in Frenchtown just while eating lunch. 

Forty miles wasn’t the plan, but once I realized I was already halfway to a personal record with plenty of energy in the tank, there was no turning back early. Legs still feel good the next day too, which might be the most encouraging part of the whole weekend. 

Two rides, two records, zero flats on my end. I’ll take it.