KCBC Ride Report

Large turnout for the KCBC ride out of Gambier, OH.  How many mornings remain on the calendar where you shove off at 8:00 with nothing on but the usual shorts and jersey?  Oh sure, there were a couple of constitutionally weak types who had to pull on arm warmers (insert eye roll here) or a wind breaker (insert even larger eye roll here) but they were rare. We ascended the hill into Gambier and then plunged into the valley.  Soon, I lamented not having a pair of arm warmers.

The sun being so low, we flashed into and out of areas of shade and sun frequently, bordered by vast swaths of corn, as we followed a rolling route, oblivious to the building wind out of the SW.  There was the Rossi tandem and it made me wonder whatever happened to Grand Poobah, who used to spend hours behind the Rossi tandem.

Around mile 25, we pulled into the first food stop. Above, Frank S, Steve, Hendra and Eva surround the table while Marty looks on, probably nibbling on a kale/lettuce mix that he brought from home. 

Benton, in the black/white kit center right, claims he is the fittest Ecuadorian and even rejected our invite to ride with the slow bunch.  Instead he wanted to ride with Marty, Hendra and Philippe and he did, for awhile, before dropping back to ride with the Frank Seebode group. Marty on the left, lingering for too long while watching Mark C eat copious amounts of snacks. 

Corvair, eating and watching.

Eventually, we shifted our attention from the food to the bikes, remounted and soldiered on to the east, still oblivious to the wind, building and building at our backs.  Gosh, I so wanted to ride the century route but I had dog watching duties and so at mile 30, made the left turn on the 62 mile route and thanked myself over and over on the return into that fairly strong head wind.  Below, our Stella being chased by my daughter's Doberman.