Peace Descends & then Broken on the Tuesday New Albany ride

I extended the olive branch of peace with Muscle Dude.  I've been kind of hard on him, exaggerating his group rules breaking, crotch itching in front of the ladies, calling me names, spitting upwind of the group...pretty much everything you can think of save for dropping into the tuck position when taking a pull.  So there I was, wait......is there any sentence that needs to start with the word "So" yet I find myself using and hearing that word often.  Why is that?  Anyway, So there I was, riding alongside the big fella on Concorde Road, chatting about roads we used to visit but no longer do, telling him how much fun it has been for the blog to use him for content opportunity, small talk type stuff.  All was well and peace and good will was back.  Then on the run in to New Albany....the rest is below.

Ian and new guy Nick on the right, A light turnout this late afternoon, probably driven by the temp and humidity level or maybe the approaching spotty storms that were destined to dissipate so we rode dry.

Ron on the right with a very fit looking Farmer Mike.  Mike's been riding a lot, financially secure with all the sharecroppers working his vast land holdings and providing a steady revenue stream.

What the group lacked in quantity, about 14, it made up for it in quality and then added to it on the road by picking up 5 more.  We departed with Logan, Muscle Dude, Gus, Axel, George, Ron, Mike, Jay P, Ian, Nick, Michael, Mike Cauley added the Sadas briefly, two new guys and toward the end, Jon Morgan. The 2 new guys were picked up out 161 but rather than drifting to the right as we approached, they rode left of center, pedaling until we passed--Don't do that! 

I put in a good effort on the climb by the disc golf on Battee bud discovered after doing so that it was too freakin hot for that nonsense so settled into the back of the pack as we climbed Stone Quarry and even by KOM hunting grounds Caswell.  As previously stated, I had a nice chat with my buddy Craig and all was going so well as I took a longish, hard pull on 161. Then prior to the climb to Kitzmiller Road, but with plenty of pavement to cover prior to the climb, I pulled out.  Craig was behind me and immediately began jib jabbing me!  Rather than ease into the pull, he turned on the nitro switch and I was unable to catch the back.  During my solo into New Albany, I decided to not let the incident ruin the progress I had made defusing the crises.  At the entrance to the parking lot, as I turned in with Craig proceeding elsewhere I happily said, "See you Thursday Craig."  And what did he say, he freakin called me a "rookie".  I snapped and yelled back "Whiner" and for good measure threw in, "Complainer". Later, someone asked if I was serious....come on, no one needs to ask that.  It's all in good, clean fun.