“The Bustop” A Favorite Ride
One of my favorite rides in Boulder is a group ride with
a bunch of “wheel heads” (cyclists only) every
Tuesday and Thursday evening around the Boulder area. It’s
my best-kept secret because few trigeeks dare to join the
wheelheads. Usually, depending on daylight and the time
of the year, the ride starts at 5:00 PM at the establishment
parking lot affectionately known as the Bustop topless bar.
I reiterate that this is just a meeting place in the parking
lot, not in the bar.
The ride length is 45 miles door to door as it heads from
Boulder to Lyons, around two five mile circuits called the
“fruit loops” and then towards Longmont, deviating
through Hygiene (I have no idea how this town got its name),
and then into Gunbarrel and back to Boulder.
I enjoy the ride for several reasons:
1. Unlike riding alone, you can get your heart rate to
your anaerobic threshold and above without much perceived
mental effort. I can easily keep my heart rate average above
my AT for as long as an hour and a half of the ride by riding
at the front. Training by myself, I couldn’t do this.
In a group, you don’t realize how hard you’re
exerting yourself.
2. You can work on increasing leg speed. When in a draft
of other cyclists, the effort exerted is less than the leader
and you can drop a gear and spin while continuing at the
same pace as the leader (hmmmmm, so drafting is easier than
cycling on your own at the same speed).
3. You get miles in quickly for those who record their
distance.
4. You get to corrupt the egotistical minds of some cyclists
who think they are the kings of two wheels. After making
them go totally anaerobic and blowing up, you know they’ve
got to be thinking “expletive, this guy has already
swum 3 miles and done a track workout today.”
