The Sound of Silence

This past Saturday, T3 had their first official group ride of the Ironman Coeur D'Alene training season. It also coincided with our Erin Lahr Memorial Ride, an 8 Mile Loop of Silence around the South Mopac Loop. While it was a day that most of us would've chosen to ride indoors because of the cool air and 30mph headwinds that greeted us on the way back to town, the power of the group was impossible to deny. The power of the silence and respect was even more dominating.

Erin's husband Jeff spoke a few resonating words before we took off and I was blown away by his spirit, energy, and gratitude at such a small gesture. He was grateful for our "tribute," but encouraged us to be loud, boisterous and have fun once the 8 mile loop of silence was over. That is, afterall, what his wife would've wanted.

Well...we took him at his word and we were definitely loud and boisterous, but I don't know how much *fun* we were having. Those headwinds coming back into town from Buda were brutal. My 18+ mph coast down south was followed up by a few sub 10 mph stretches into the wind. I didn't go all the way to Kyle, but did end up with 43.5 miles that day that included the Memorial 8 Miles(plan called for 40) and a whopping overall average of about 15.5 mph :-)

So Jeff, at your request, I was definitely loud and boisterous, but forgive me for the curse words! I hope you're wife would've wanted it that way too :-)

Below are a couple of pics of the ride (courtesy of Jeff Lahr):

Erin's husband Jeff poses with some of the crew

Quite a powerful sight to see photos of our peleton