Wolfpack: The Hustle Ride

I went to ride with the Wolfpack Monday night at 10:00 p.m. I got my ass schooled. This was the first time I've been on this ride in nearly 2 years. The last time was in October of 2007. There's a post I made about it last time in my Archives.

I thought this ride was fast last time. Things have gotten much more fast and furious this time around. A couple of years ago, it was mostly guys on fast track and fixed gear bikes. Now, it's been taken over by mostly road racers. They've taken it to a whole new level.

We rode about 35 miles that night. Then, I biked home and got home around 2:30 a.m. I slept around 3:30 a.m.

This ride is a very fast paced ride. Think of Fast and Furious on bicycles and you get the type of racing we do. I'm not kidding. There were 4 stops. The stops were a little long though. We waited for some riders to make it to the stop. We kept losing people. I think we started with around 30 riders and only half were able to finish. I was just barely hanging on. The only reason why I didn't get totally dropped was because I was following right behind guys who knew how to get to the next check point. If I fell behind, my ride would have ended right there. I can't see street signs very well, much less at night. Plus, I can't keep track of all the turns when the route is announced. There were a lot of cops out that night. One of the riders got pulled over. These guys just don't stop at lights. It makes it nearly impossible to keep up if you get caught at the light in a big intersection. You've got to spin as fast as you can and just pray you don't get dropped. This ride is not for the faint of heart. We pass cars going downhill and we don't stop for anything.

We went through a lot of L.A. neighborhooods like Hollywood, Koreatown, Griffith Park, Los Feliz, the Convention Center, and Silver Lake.

Why do I put myself through this type of punishment? Because it's fun, thrilling, and I want to keep pushing myself to become a faster rider.

I can't wait for my next ride with the Wolfpack, but these wolves ride at way past my bedtime.