Canal Ride Report, Drunk on the Side of the Road

First, the quality of the images this week is sub-par.  I dropped the devise on Saturday and that either contributed to the problem or maybe there was just a smear on the lens.  I think it is the latter because the right side is in focus but the left side is not.  Anyway, above is Jr Muscle Dude and I can confirm a rumor floating around the peloton at large, yes, he played for THE Ohio State Buckeyes as a defensive lineman, behind Mike Vrabel and Matt Finkes.  Started at least one game but blew out a knee against Wyoming and that was that.  About a year ago he acquired a bike so he could ride in Pelotonia and now, he is rising quickly through the ranks, a good guy and preparing for Mountain Mama, an August century ride with 9000' of climbing in remote WV.  This year, Pelotonia will be a recovery ride.

The new tandem watch continues as Mark and Karen (on the right) patiently wait for the new carbon fiber tandem with electric shifters to be available.  Have to give the bike shop credit for undertaking a build that is out of the ordinary and includes a part custom made to make the derailleur fit the frame, or something like that.

Ricky G in the middle, a recovering stop sign jumping addict.  Although his muscles were visibly twitching when we slowed for a stop sign, he kept his urges in check, throughout the ride.

A visitor originally from Denmark and now living in the panhandle of Florida where the riding is not so much fun.  Roads too flat, too busy and too many rednecks. 

Euro Patrick and Paul Stock await the start.  Smallish turnout, probably put off by the heat, humidity and hills.  Around 35 total.

So, an A group of Steve O, Patrick, Paul, Muscle dude Jr. and Sr. (Craig Rice), Jeff S, Pete, Dustin, Dirty Dan and 1-2 others rolled out followed by the above B group and then only 3-4 C's.  I had been outside most of the day, painting and was not at all motivated to ride very hard so when we reached the turn on Slough, I dropped back to wait for the Rossi tandem.  Except, they were gone so I soloed my way around, which included passing a small brown car partially pulled off the road at the bottom of Pickerington.  I didn't pay too much attention to it but later......

....Amanda stop (note how whipped everyone looks) someone commented that the car had been occupied but the driver appeared to have been unconscious.  Steve Hewitt and C group, paused at the car and called 911.  They were asked to stay at the scene until an officer arrived.  The woman in the car awoke,  called one of the C's, "Fat", told another C, "You have fat legs.", told another, "How can the tires support you." and otherwise demonstrated she didn't like the fact the police were on their way.  Seems she had drank in excess, passed out while pulling her car partially off the road (glad we were not riding through there at the time), had a suitcase in the back seat and a bad day was about to get worse.

We shoved off from the Amanda store and made it back to the parking lot just before the sun set.  The front of the A group arrived at 9:05 with remnants of both groups coming in a little later.  The distance was ok for the scheduled sunset but with so much climbing, it made things tight.