I got to celebrate a birthday in a unique way today.  The Secretary of the Pittsburgh Triathlon Club hosts an annual bike ride, where the group ‘rides his age’ on his birthday. It is a fun group ride, that starts at the local park.

The route this year, consisted of two separate loops out of the park, and together they added up to 64 miles.  For the first loop, we rode out to a local alpaca farm.  It’s a really nice area of countryside, just outside of town.  We were rewarded with fantastic weather, and great views of the adorable alpacas at the farm.

The second loop, took us through some local neighborhoods and included a stop for ice cream.  That cup of butter pecan ice cream tasted fantastic after riding for fifty miles.

This ride was a little longer than my scheduled workout for the the day.  However, it was a group ride, so I spent large chunks of time, at very low power, while drafting behind other riders.  Even though the ride was longer than planned, I don’t believe the training stress was much different than if I had followed the workout plan while riding on my own.

It was way more fun to celebrate a birthday, than to ride alone on the roads.  I’ll likely be riding alone several times next week, so I took advantage of the group ride while I could.