January Winds from Nature & Corvair

As I drove to the GN Church for the start of the ride, I thought about the comment made by someone that it appears I pick on the women of our rides.  Upon reaching the parking lot, I was determined to look for the flaws among my male riding companions and exploit them in the ride report.  The first male to arrive was Jeff S.  Now, it is true that Jeff changes clothes in the back of his van and I've been told he also wears women's panties but that's not that unusual and it would be insensitive to make fun of a cross dressing cyclist who looks like he is 65.  Next to arrive was Steve O, who parked so close as to prevent me from opening the passenger car door, ha, ha.  Steve is a financial advisor whose investment philosophy considers a 3-month bank CD to be a risky investment....ok, that's not true.  Point of fact, Steve circulated a note to his clients in late 2007 that they should reduce their exposure to stocks and because of this, salvaged millions and millions, maybe billions of dollars in wealth for his clients.  How can you make fun of a guy like this?  Then Mark C rolled in.  Mark is the pastor at Gloryland Nazarene Church so despite being a notorious stop sign jumper, my reservoir of taste, low as it is, prevents me from making fun of a man of the cloth.  Then, I turned to.......  

.....another part of the parking lot and there stood Kenda Janet, Corvair and Flyin Tuna.  This trio makes Larry, Curley and Moe look somber and staid by comparison.  If not what these 3 wear, it's what they say, what they eat, their facial expressions, how they ride,  their constant battle with weight gain, etc...  I'll continue to look for alternatives but for the time being, I must stay the course.  

There were 10 at the start, down from the normal turnout probably put off by the rather remote location and flat route.  Well, we started with 10 but Franz discovered he had forgot his front tire and so he had to leave.  This is the start of the new year and so habits must be relearned, such as bringing both wheels.  That left the aforementioned 6 plus John S and Trevor, who has some issues but his youth prevents me from picking on him.  1 mile into the ride, Mark C discovered a bulge in his tire, no, not the one around his waist but the back one on his bike and no, not because of the weight it was bearing, according to Mark.  He decided to ride back to the church with Jeff, Trevor and Steve accompanying him.  The plan was for those that remained to ride easy and eventually we would regroup.  However, I drove them like a team of mules, pulling a vast distance before....

....drifting to the back for a breather.  With the wind coming out of the west, Corvair sat on the far left of the right lane which is correct, freeing up room for 4-5 to sit to her right and draft.  Yeah, that's how it is supposed to work but these two hoggsters took up all the space, leaving John and I exposed to the wind. 

Eventually, we reached Millersport at mile 25, entered a greasy spoon and ordered.  The other 4 soon joined us and we had maybe too long of a down time, confirmed when I began yawning and thinking about taking a nap in the back.  We got back onto the sidewalk where Mark discovered that Trevor's back tire was nearly flat.  Upon producing the spare tube and asking for a pump, Amanda grabbed the tube and displaying amazing lung power, quickly inflated the tube to about the size of a tractor tire!  Wow.  Mark released some of the air and installed the new tube and we then headed farther east before turning south and then west and after 53 miles and 1600' of climbing, reached the parking lot.  Too bad I can't think of a suitable occasion or I would have brought another bottle of Champagne,  Looks like Dave Miler's winter metric century series starts next week so probably have to check that out.