 Farmer Mike, recovering from a broken hand, came out on his mountain bike. Upon hearing the results of the x-ray, confirming the break, he didn't want to bother making a trip in to have a cast placed so fashioned his own out of a milk carton and tape. I know, 95% of you think I'm making that up but it's true. He's had broken bones before and understands the basics of the routine so did it himself. Poobah interviewing him on the right.  Ron Budzig in the background, Dave Chesrown in the foreground. Dave, in a very humble way, described Sunday's Dry Run ride during which he, Marty and Garth pulled away from John Sada and finished around 40 minutes ahead. Marty put in a 40 mile pull into and out of Johnstown which settled matters, despite the effort of Steve Fields to keep John S in the game. Sounds like a lot of fun. Panzerwagen Hendra on the right and Mick on the left.  What you see is what was there, another light turnout for a Thursday New Albany ride. If the hoards of cyclists that came out in June and July kept you from attending, all is now quiet on the the Eastern front. No more then 25 were out tonight.  The Man of Integrity, Marty. It all started when a woman approached me and asked if I knew a Chris Grisvard. Immediately, I thought, "Oh boy. Jilted lover coming out to publically humiliate Chris. Great story for the blog." Alas, no, she had found Chris' wallet in the parking lot. It was a very thick wallet. The fixed income types like Retro George and Poobah eyed the wallet greedily. They wanted to open it and divvy the contents but Marty grabbed the wallet from me and said no. I wanted to examine the contents for evidence, maybe find a receipt from Lions Den or McDonalds so I could use it creatively but Marty again said no. Marty left the disappointed crowd and tracked down Chris and returned the wallet. What a guy.  So, with the usual pre-ride activities coming to a close, the A group was sent out on a 41 mile route that was certainly at the limit of what the strongest could do in the allotted time so naturally, I hung back with the B group. We left the parking lot, worked our way through the lights and hit old #161. John aka Jr. Muscle Dude, went to the front and hammered, thus violating the warm-up rule, that distance out to Kitzmiller Road is to be ridden at a relaxed pace. We let him go after half the group was shelled prior to Kitzmiller with only Joe Niccan, above in Savage Hill jersey, hanging on. We caught up at the Beech Road light and continued on at a pretty good pace, picking up Steve Fields and some COTT cyclists. Steve was on his mountain bike, the same machine used at the Leadville 100. We also added Katherine and Christian to our group so maybe 12-ish by the time we arrived at the 310 light. Coming through the light, I noticed my back tire was flat so thus my evening was done. Fixing the flat, I got on to Jersey Mill with the intent to catch the group coming back through Alexandria. Once there, I saw one of our group coming through, new guy Steve and jumped in with him. Turns out he too had a flat and left the group and was working his way back to New Albany. We rode back via Jug into a eye wrenching glare the likes of which I don't know I've ever experienced for such a long distance. Staring directly into a setting sun, I was thankful for the occasional shade but made it back with a paltry 23 miles. Mark Rossi rolled in soon after, having finished the 31 mile route with Joe B, Poobah and Corvair with a 21.5 avg while another group of Dirty Dan, John Day and others added a couple of miles that included the Thresher climb through Granville. With the sun below the horizon, Marty, Jon M, Dave and Hendra rolled in. Not sure about the others who departed with but did not finish with the lead A group.  Here we go, the Thursday New Albany A route. Kind of ambitious at 41 miles so think clearly about what you are going to do. I'd hate to be way out there on Jones Road and be riding alone all the way back to NA.
http://hfpracingnews.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/new-albany-cop-september-12-2013.pdf
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