Jittery Peloton

Lots and lots of cyclists for tonight's Canal ride.  I forgot my camera so no good images to post and also discovered my dog had taken my gloves after leaving them out to dry. Not a good start.  However, there were lots and lots of cyclists for tonight's CSo many in fact that Peggy ordered me to take the sign-up sheet around to the late arriver's cars, thus enabling said late arriver's habit of being late but I lack the courage to say no to the Peggster.  One guy wished I had not come around.  He asked me to dismount my bike and hold a faulty pump to the tire's nozzle while he pumped.  Thinking I had to yank the pump away from the nozzle quickly to avoid air leakage, I also yanked the nozzle out of the tube and so, with 4 minutes prior to the start, he had to replace his tube.  Thank you very much.

Sarge came up with a flatish route which is a nice change of pace.  Later, Steve O complained bitterly about the route and upon completion of the ride I immediately reported this disloyal act to Sarge and urged that she ban Steve for at least 1 ride.  No word yet on her decision. Anyway, a huge group of A riders departed, including 4-5 Jeni's, 2-3 Savage Hillers, Rob Rhodes and 2 other Walker guys, The Boss (who had earlier run 7 miles, sick), Steve O, Paul Stock, Todd Lee, Echelon guy and other racers and us pack fodder types like Kevin, Jeff S, Recumbent Dude riding an upright bike, Greg Hall, Retro George, Andrew, Margarita Holt and others. Probably 25 just in the A group, probably several emboldened to join by the flatish route.

Surprisingly, we left the lot at a warm-up speed and in fact, the speed was moderate for several miles out Basil Western, north on Carroll Eastern and then east on Stemen where the pace picked up.  A few people were shed but there were enough stop signs to keep an abnormally large group together.  We eventually ended up going south on Lake where the peloton soft peddled, thus allowing George and 2 others to regroup.  For whatever reason, the group was anything but a cohesive unit and was a tad bit dicey with several close calls.  George seems oblivious to stop signs, which encourages others to bolt through them, a couple of guys at the front attacked after half the peloton had braked to go through a gravel section and several times attacks were initiated after pausing at intersections, which always puts riders in the back at a big disadvantage.  My view is, if you are that desperate to create a gap you may as well carry a pocketknife and just reach over and start slashing tires. Geez.

West on Pleasantville Road with enough long hills to put pressure on and with numerous attacks, the group got slimmed down to 10 cyclists. The 33 crossing allowed some more regrouping and although there were some more attacks and strong pulls,,at the end we had around 12-14 together with a 22.4mph average for 43 miles.