The First New Albany Winds of War Ride

Although I was not there, I have many in the peloton who feel it is their responsibility to keep me informed and so, after talking to many, I can file this brief report.  Rick Miller had a brief presentation at the beginning and a New Albany police officer was there to add weight to the presentation while describing his own pursuit of cycling lawbreakers.  Then the group rolled out, around 30 total into an environment of clouds and very strong winds, probably 25mph+.  No doubt this kept the crowd down. During the warm-up, Dirty Dan was mixing it up at the front, dirty, dirty Dan, making the warm-up session rather short and life unbearable for a few.  Jon Morgan was up there too, probably inspired by Dan. Dan dropped off the pace after establishing himself as the pace setter.

The pace was very fast out Jug Street with a tail wind and then, entering Alexandria, the old habits arose as the lead A group turned right on to #37 with cars approaching from the left.  Rather than pause to make sure everyone got through, it appears the front group pushed the pace and so a gap was created.  This, by anyone's definition, is chickenshit stuff and the type of event that Rick is striving to avoid.  My very limited experience with the A group is that it is just one or two people who initiate this stuff and others follow so they are not dropped.  To be fair, since I did not see this, maybe the telling of the story was exaggerated.

The return, in to that strong wind, created more gaps but still, the lead group had a 22.8mph average.  I'll be there next Thursday, as long as it is sunny and 80, to post what I witness, at least during the warm-up phase.