The First Official New Albany Ride Report & Saturday Plan

Ride Leader Shannon exults in the return of the New Albany COP Thursday ride.  If I had spent the entire off season training in various warm climes with repeats up Brasstown Bald hill on one training mission, I too would be excited.  Jon Morgan, in the car debating whether to ride or not but I convinced him to join the fun

Weather.com forecast 0% chance of rain through 8:00pm but the radar sure looked like rain and while I drove over to New Albany, it was raining.  I passed Jon Sada and Sada junior on 161, plowing through the drizzle and later rain.  I am waiting for my form to return to lackluster so I was not desperate to ride and instead assumed the role of cataloging the event.  Shannon on the right, Jon Morgan, Nick and unknown on the left but he looks strong too.

Dan R joined in with the above 4 (image above this one), Jon Sada and a B/C cyclist who I suspect found himself riding alone in the very, very near term.  Dan reports that he hung on for quite a while, until the Mounts rollers and later hooked up with Sada for a while before Sada popped out for home and Dan rode alone, finishing with 38 miles.

WOODSTOCK RIDE
Now for the Saturday ride.  Despite the 25mph winds and relatively cold temps, a group of us will depart the COP Woodstock ride at 9:00am.  Mainly we chose this time because Team Roll and their dozens are also departing at that time and we figure we can just fold in behind them during the head wind sections.  There are a lot of iffy statements coming from the emails but Kenda Dave and Janet are committed, as are Jeff S, Flyin Tuna, Dan R, Larry P and the Rolls, etc...  May as well come out and suffer with everyone else.

Shannon has produced the first map of the first COP Thursday New Albany ride, a ride that is only slightly less famous then the great bike rides of the world.  Sure, there are no pros, no Cat 1 but a retired Cat 2 or two, a plethora of Cat 3, 4, 5 and lots of weekend warriors.  We observe the rules of the road, are polite to one another, complimentary of each other's abilities, generally offer to buy a beer after the ride, gentlemen and gentlewomen all.  Distances are 38, 30 and 20 miles.

Shannon has a website where each week he will post the routes and where you can also find out about tri-type events at:
http://hfpracingnews.wordpress.com/
Have fun and be safe out there.