Andrew C was participating in Calvin's Challenge this weekend when, well, I'll allow him to describe the action.
I had 85 miles in. I was on my 2nd loop and on the tailwind part. I had just eaten a Gu and drank some water. I looked down for a second and then crash...went down hard and hit my shoulder, hip, and helmet on the left side. I was pretty dazed, but after a minute got my bike off the road. But my shoulder area was hurting, so I knew something was wrong. Someone rode by and asked if I was ok, and I said no. They asked if I had the number to call and I said no. I had debated about that at the start. So, he gave me a piece of paper with the number. I sat down and was about to call when the sag came by. So, I got a ride back to the start and then one of the race directors took me to the local hospital and took good care of me. They drugged me up and set the bone with a figure 8 and put a sling on. Today I went to an orthopedic surgeon. I have to go back in a week and make sure it's still aligned well and starting to heal. Rats. One of our Canal ride leaders is out for awhile but we will form ranks and ride out this hic-up.
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An important component to departing the parking lot is knowing you have cleaverly hidden your car keys, as Marty demonstrates. Considering the length of the drive and the difficulty of the route, a surprising good turnout of 13 people. The 13 would split into an A and B group. That the split occurred even in the parking lot is not an intentional social snub, just everyone gravitating towards the people with whom they knew they'd be spending the next 5-6 hours. The A group was comprised of Marty, Dave C, Jon M, Terry G, Pete C, Steve F while the B group had Mark C, Mike M, Flyin Tuna, Jeff S, Ricky G, Corvair and me. Two who would have certainly joined us, Steve O and Dan R, were riding the "3 State 3 Mountain" tour in TN, doing so in driving rain, temps in the low 50's, low clouds, water cascading off cliff faces, etc... They finished with 83 miles and 6600' of climbing. Unfortunately, the tour was marred by the death of a cyclist who went left of center while descending Lookout Mountain, colliding with a car. The B group got the jump on the A group out of the parking lot but soon the situation reversed itself, here pulling away. We did not see Marty and the Jets at the first food stop but someone explained, they don't stop to refuel. When their water bottles go dry, they just find a creek for a quick refill and then keep going. If they get hungry, they stop at a fresh roadkill and attack like a pack of wolves. This keeps the stops infrequent and short. Dave Chesrown took one wickedly steep descent a little faster than most of us would dare (64mph) and has this video as proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ta0QJT4JmnQ Beautiful scenery, here an image sent to me by Corvair. I'm trying to train her to be the official blog photographer so I can concentrate on drafting while riding. We finished with 95 miles and 6000' of climbing, Marty finished with 99 miles and 6300' of climbing with a ride time of 4:58 and total time of 5:33. Note the 35 minutes of time off the bike was skewed by two flats. We took a slightly more leisurely ride time of 5:45 and a total time, I'm not sure but it takes a long time to get some of us off the pavement from in front of the gas stations.
Below, Mike was so zonked that he forgot to take off his helmet. Mike Murphy and Meredith. Mike has gleefully accepted a teaching position at a university in Adelaide, Australia, which is on the southern coast of OZ and beneficiary of a Mediterranean climate. Golly jeepers that's a change in one's surroundings. Mike has volunteered to send images and ride reports to, as he put it, "Make your blog more interesting." We'll see. Some new guys maybe, at least I can't remember them. I think the guy in the center was pulling out Morse Rd and about 3/4 of the way up a longish hill, pulled off and left me to pull. I died at that point. Poobah holds court before the ride, with Mike and Rob pretending to pay attention to Poobah's wise words. Doug, Kevin and Rob enjoying the parking lot scene prior to the ride. No one was smiling about 30 minutes later as we departed on yet another interesting and fun route, designed by Shannon. Kevin joined Gus in towing me around for 30+ miles this evening. Gus Cook, Marty Sedluk and Dave Chesrown. Each week I seem to have a new riding buddy and tonight it was Gus along with Kevin, later hooked up with Coffee Grinder dude we referred to as Surge and later yet with Muscle Dude. Good group at the end. The parking lot's lone shade tree is leafing and providing some shelter from the sun. The B group takes this as their domain but will alow a C ride or two to join. The B group was huge, around 40 shoved off at the start. Probably we should split this group but how? If you announce a "Super B" group, 90% think, "Oh, that's me." and 36 shove off. Something to think about. Crazy George on the far left, trying to round himself into form. Marty's wife, Elenour, making a rare appearance. Pete C in the middle. Also a rare appearance by Astana Dennis in the background.. A smallish A group, 22 at the start. Some new faces, Rob Rhodes, with many of the regulars, such as Marty, Hendra (learning more about him, from Indonesia and Cat 3), Dave C, Muscle Dude, Shannon, John Sada, Pete C, Doug McConaha, Gus Cook, Kevin, etc... We headed out old 161 at a civilized pace until crossing Kitsmiller then the gun sounded. By the duration of the pulls, it appeared the SE wind was having an impact. Turning right on Harrison, a kind of unfit looking guy I had been monitoring, bailed on the group, creating a gap but fortunately, Marty was in front of me and slowly reined in the group. We hung a left on Morse and once through the stop sign, continued east, where there are a few rollers. I somehow found myself in the 2nd spot, was exposed when a guy in front pulled out and there I dropped out, mile 8, sad. However, the pace and hill had taken it's toll on others and so I grouped with Kevin and Gus. Crossing at the light on I think Hazeltown Road, we spied Shannon off his bike checking his seat. At that point, it appeared the front group may have set up a little and we actually were gaining as we turned south on Wadkins and kept them in sight all the way to #16, where they hit green and then we hit red. The game was up for us and we commiserated about how it's not enough that those guys have cardio advantage, power advantage, fitness advantage but to also have dumb luck on their side, it isn't fair. Gus and Kevin continued at a race pace and we ham-n-egged it pretty good, out Blacks, up Gale, then picked up Coffee Grinder dude we called Surge because he would draft, take his turn at the front, blow us off his wheel, draft, kill us, etc... He probably thought he was making us stronger. Eventually we went east on Moots and as we approached Granville, I anticipated turning left on Raccoon Valley Road but Gus said, no, we were going up Beechwood/Thornwood. I couldn't help myself but exclaim, "You've got to be kidding me." but nope, up that hill we rode, through the Granville Middle School drive, then onto Raccoon Valley Road, into Alexandria and out Jersey Mill. Rather than make the turn to get out to 161, we stayed straight at 310 and went west to Burnside and then left to 161 where we hooked up with Craig Rice. At Beech, gus bugged out, at the New Albany light, Craig, Kevin and Surge went off the route and I returned to the parking lot alone, to be greeted by Poobah with shouts of derision. Finished with 46 miles, 21mph avg and about 1600' of climbing. Not sure about the front group, I asked Hendra and he gave me 30+ as the kph result. Oh yeah, the route passed my house. Out of concern there would be a group pee break on my driveway, I kept quiet about it. However, Poobah said he brought toilet paper with him and would take appropriate action when passing the property. I arrived home to the below scene. If you thought last Saturday was kind of, sort of fun. Wait until you see what we have planned for this Saturday. The difference between this ride and last Saturday's ride is there are real maps with road names, there is an accurate que sheet, there are food stops on the route and what a route it is. It's a bit of a drive but it's a chance to see some beautiful country. You can view the map and que sheet here: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2447037 9:00am start at the Logan Conference Center on Chieftan Drive. Just head south on #33, take the #180 exit and make a left at the stop sign. The Conference Center will be on your left in a couple of miles.
Then, for a recovery ride, there is the COP Top of Ohio ride on Sunday, hosted by Mark V. First 30 kind of flat and boring and last 30 kind of flat and boring but that middle 40, wow, now that's a bike ride. Another interesting route from Shannon with a Cat 5 climb! Something else very interesting about the route, at about mile 20.5, but better not say anything, wait until the post ride report. Be careful at the crossings of Rt. #16, no stop sign jumping boys.
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