Canal Tuesday

Early in the day, weather radar made things look grim for an outdoor event but it all dissipated (unfortunately as my garden, images to come, needs the water) and the wind died and it was a nice evening for a bike ride.  Here, Poobah shows up to brag about all the women flocking to him during the Horsey Hundred of last weekend.  Todd was a little burned out from all the riding and took tonight off but had to stop and give us the business anyway.

Sluggish turnout with few quality A's other than Da Boss, beginning to get his cycling legs back under him and now stands at around 400 miles for the year, Steve O, Nick, Spence and Paul Stock. 

Also there was David Smith, winner of the GCC and still reveling in the victory.  Note the Bengal tiger close by.  By mid season, David will probably have worn all the fur off it from frequent rubbing and I'll have to replace.

About 34 cyclists with Mark C, tonight's COP ride leader, calling them out on a shortish route of 36 miles.  Actually, Mark got pressed in to duty at the last minute so did not have time to prepare a better route.  A small A group rolled out that included the aforementioned 5, Jeff S, Ryan R and a few others.  After Monday's ride, I just wanted to take it genuinely easier and chose to hop in with the B group and enjoy a B ride pace.  With me were Kevin K, Reynoldsburg Dan, Nathan, Mark C, David S, Andrew C, Mark V, Trevor and others totaling about 18.  Things got off to a rocky start when traffic kept a large group from exiting with Dan, Trevor and 3-4 others.  Note to those who first exit the parking lot: don't ride hard until everyone gets out.  By the time we branched up to the front group, our numbers had dropped, too bad.  

We headed into Lithopolis and out the other side via Elder and then Winchester.  Our group got whittled down some more and I turned to Mark V and said, "At this rate the only ones left will be the 3-4 guys who should have gone out with the A group."  For one who is mentally challenged, I do have my occasional moment of clairvoyance.  We missed the scheduled turn, went a little farther south but got back on the route, eventually crossing Cedar Hill and on to Amanda Northern where we turned north.  By now, we were down to Nathan, Mark C, Andrew C and me.  Just outside Lithopolis, we picked up Ryan, who had hung with the A group for a few hundred yards before falling back, short cutting and soft pedaling so he was fresh.  I was the lead out man prior to the Canal stop sign warning sign and Ryan took the bunched sprint. Rolled into the parking lot with 38 miles and a 21.5 avg.  The front group of Nick, Steve, Paul, Craig and Spence finished with 22.4 avg and 36 miles.  Yep, a nice take it easy B pace.
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