Sunday John Martin Ride Report

Wow, great weather huh?  Large turnout for John Martin's Sunday ride out of Granville, 33 I think including Rick Miller who joined us out on Louden Road as we headed toward Mt Vernon.

And there was Dave Chesrown too, driving a multi, multi person van so if there was a catastrophic weather event he could pick us up.  More important, Dave was on time and beginning to round in to shape after a month of international travel, home building, time spent moving, etc...  Dave is very busy so give him some slack as he deals with the dilemma of being a working schlep with little time to ride like most of us.

Lori N on the left and to her right is Anthony Sada, Kristy, Peggy Cook, Kym Sada and on the far right, John Martin who organizes these rides most Sundays while also sweeping the route.  Today we went to....

....Mt Vernon for a brief stop after a very moderate pace to this point at mile 30.  Would the pace, could the pace continue at this pleasant speed? No, of course not as the 60 milers, including Meredith, Kym, Anthony, Lon H, Kristy departed back to Granville.  Marty, promised he would not instigate anything once on the road but if someone else did, he would be up for the challenge. 

First though, we had to make it through "Allergy Alley" the bike path to Millwood.  The path was covered with and lined by every seed pod, seed, allergen known to humans.  At the back of the peloton, where I dwell, it was a swirling mist of airborne stuff and soon, I was beset by a hacking cough and runny nose.  If you are not allergic to anything, after emerging from the path you probably would be.  Eventually, we got on to Hazel Dell and the long climb to Bladensburg.  Luke Russell and Marty stayed at the front and set a brisk but not scathing pace so I was able to hang in there.

Upon reaching Bladensburg, we ran in to Tate and Ben, two Cat 2 types with Tate taking 2nd at the women's 1/2/3 Westerville Bike Race behind Kayla Starr.  Gus Cook ordered turkey and cheese slices so I asked for the same but to describe the portion as a "slice" is not accurate, more like a "hunk" or "slab" to describe the wrist buckling weight of the meal.  We lingered but not for long as Marty frequently commented, "We don't want to linger for too long" and I challenged him a couple of times to explain why not. 

We went south on Henpeck, west on Bell Church and here the jets were turned on and we flew over the rollers across Purity Road then Martinsburg Road and then just short of the "wall" on Bell Church, my legs just died.  It was sad, they have been good to me over the years but I guess a combination of Saturday's 84 hilly miles, old age coupled with poor genes was too much and I fell off the pace.  Once in Utica I left the group and followed what I thought/hoped to be a slightly shorter route via Reynolds/Weaver/Preston/Chatham and on to Granville and while it was shorter, it was so only by 1 mile.  I thought about waving down a passing car but kept plugging away, reaching Granville with 81 miles and around 3500' of climbing.  164 miles for the weekend was more than enough.