Dropped Yet Again & Ride Report!

No, not from the peloton but by a right hook to the kidney.  Flyin Tuna, emboldened  by Todd Lee's attack on me finally had enough of my crap.  It all started innocently enough when I asked, after noticing a small red mark on her chin, if that was from a razor while she was trying to shave.  From there it went to me calling her the Bearded Lady from the circus.  She lept from her bike and nailed me.  I'm looking for a body guard.

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Heck of a night for a bike ride with no humidity, a slight breeze from the northwest, brilliant sunshine and a sad realization that with the onset of fall-like weather, our evening bike rides will end soon (what the heck will I do then?). Abercrombie & Fitch had their annual bike ride event this evening so it may have siphoned off a few but still, I counted 49 people, including a strong cast of A's, including Colnago Ron, shown here with that suddenly popular Mountain Dew jersey.  Apparently, a group of 10 wore these during Pelotonia, delivered to them the night before the event by a local soft drink distributor.

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Joining Ron were Terry, Mick, Tim Tyler, Muscle Dude, Claude, Jeff S, Steve O up from Canal to try his luck again but this time on the road bike, one of the stronger Walker dudes and several others.  So strong was the group, it intimidated me into sticking with the B group, as did Dennis and Kevin H, also up from Canal.  Also in the B group was the resurgent Amanda, Tri Mike, Dan, Brain Damaged Gary, Flyin Tuna, Recumbent Dude, etc...  

Jeff came up with a good route of 33 miles with a slightly shorter option of 31.  The A group departed of 15-16, then our B group of around 10-12 and we cruised out ood 161, making a left at Kitzmiller where I slotted in beside Kevin H, and had to work too hard to stay up so at the turn onto Jug, I slid back.  At the Beech Road intersection, the police had created a temporary block to allow the A&F riders to pass and...hey, there were the A's stacked up.  If I had to ride hard I may as well do it with them so I joined and off we went.  They hit it hard out to 310 where a left and quick right continued the route and also where the racer types punched it hard out of the turn and I was gone, to drift back to the funner bunch of B's  We wound up in Alexandria with a 22.3 average and there was Steve O waiting.  He had taken a pull on a down hill stretch and when he pulled out, someone used it as an opportunity to attack and Steve missed the group's tail.  Dennis explained to Steve the proper protocol of not tearing apart the B group with an A pace and so, Steve promptly violated the spirit of the law by attacking on Mounts.  

I did not react to the move becase I knew Steve did not know the route and would be forced to wait at the next intersection so why waste the energy.  Kevin, still young and inexperienced, leaped to Steve's wheel.  The rest of us, absent Tuna and Recumbent Dude who short cutted the route, were content to pedal along but on a down hill stretch, Tri Mike tucked and took advantage of the aero position to zoom away.  This was too much for Dennis and so he jumped with me, of course, drafting and we eventually passed Mike and soon caught Steve and Kevin.  We finally reached Hardscrabble with people strung out a little but regrouped on the way to Northridge and then across to Concorde.  Steve kept asking me the road names and I suspected he had memorized part of the route and when I confirmed we were now on Concorde, at the first uphill ramp he attacked but I covered, as did everyone and Steve was introduced to the hard fact of B riding, on a flattish route, they can draft anyone.  Attack after attack was covered and Steve finally packed it in with Kevin taking a few pulls and all of us noting the fragrant scent of Kevin's f
French perfume, which he splashes on vigorously prior to each ride.  

We reached Caswell and Dennis announced, due to the blind corners, narrow road and crummy road conditions, would be a neutral zone.  Half way down, Dan violated the neutral call and took off.  We are debating what the fine amount will be for this violation but he better bring a fat wallet next week. 

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We arrived back with a 21 average while Mick and the speedsters had a 23 average. After the ride, we engaged in the usual post ride banter and discussed what our plans would be for Saturday.

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