The Hit Man Came for Me?

Paul Stock with a helmet cam.  From now on, this selfless guy will lug the cam and a 5 pound battery around to capture evildoers of the peloton in action, crashes and guys urinating against the elementary school building.  As evidence, watch this very good piece taken from Tuesday's Canal ride with graphics!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmB7ucRsB_Y .AOLWebSuite .AOLPicturesFullSizeLink { height: 1px; width: 1px; overflow: hidden; } .AOLWebSuite a {color:blue; text-decoration: underline; cursor: pointer} .AOLWebSuite a.hsSig {cursor: default}

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Billy Campbell.  When he arrived, Dennis asked him if he was the one who sprinted out of the emergency vehicle passing last week.  He came up with a good excuse, saying he was not there. 

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White was a popular color last night, here fashionably shown by Lisa, Marty and Jon Morgan.  I can think of a few people who could use a visit by cyclings version of "What Not to Wear", like Nathan, Mark V, Dennis, etc... but the above trio are fashion plates, always dressing smartly. 

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Now here's a funny scene, amongst the high end A riders sits Toe Clip himself, Canal Steve trying to ingratiate himself with this group, leaving our clique under the shade tree and creating some ill will.  Traitor.

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Kind of a light turnout with even the usual late rush bringing the total to 55 for a 37 mile route.  Good A turnout of Pete, Chris G, Marty, Dave C, Jon M, Canal Steve O, Rick, Dennis, Tym & Lisa T, Billy C, Claude, Paul Stock, Stefano, Blair, John, John Sada, etc..probably 20, leaving the parking lot and heading out 161, where I noticed we have worn a grove in the asphalt from the frequent departures via this road.    Dave C went to the front and drilled it early on, replaced by others who repeated the same and so surge after surge raked our group and with a fairly strong wind coming out of the south, if you were unable to draft to the left, egads.  I was hanging in there midway out 161 but riding right on the yellow line to the left of Dennis when I saw a car approaching and simultaneously, felt a hand on my side.  This is it I thought.  I've angered too many and the peloton has a way of policing itself.  I glanced back to see who was the executioner and it was Gus!  It's always the unlikeliest who do the group's dirtiest deeds.  My wheel had crossed Dennis so there was no way of moving right...it was only a matter of time now with the car.  

Actually, Gus was only alerting me to his presence as he had gotten to my left and needed to close in a bit.  Anyway, Billy C got a gap on the entire group but eased up and we finally reached 310 with a 24.6 avg, Dennis and I having hung on.  There, the light never changes and a few of us crossed the intersection and soft pedaled to Jersey Mill.  Here I made a big mistake.  As soon as I turned right on Jersey Mill I knew I'd have trouble catching the group's tail and sure enough, they wooshed by me and I couldn't catch on so soloed down to Alexandria and arrived with a 24.9 avg and then out Raccoon Valley where Steve, Lisa, Stephano, Blair and some other guy caught me and I latched on to this good group.  I took a short pull in there somewhere and as I drifted back the "other guy" said, "Nice Pull" but it did not sound sincere so I asked Lisa, "Is he mocking me?" and she said, "I don't know....could be."   

We turned left at Louden and I think gapped Stephano and Blair and "other guy" on the opening ramp or soon thereafter and were down to Lisa, Steve and me but me barely so.  Having finally reached the final ramp on Louden I breathed a sign of relief, looking forward to coasting for awhile but Lisa plowed forward pedaling on the downhill...she is relentless.  We passed Claude and turned left on Stone Quarry where I survived to Northridge and then onto Concorde, left at Castle, crossing over to Duncan Plains and finally reaching 310.  Lisa led us straight where I opined that I thought we were to have hung a left and then a right on Miller.  I extended the debate as long as possible as it kept the speed down but soon we settled on making a left at Caswell and then right on Miller.  There we lost the driving force of our group as she headed back to Granville with Tym but our group had picked up John.  Our speed slowed a bit as Steve could not pull us on his own all the way and so we limped back into New Albany, having been swept up by a trailing B group in the last mile or two, arriving with 38 miles, 1000' of climbing and a 21.6 avg.   

Now, upon arriving at the parking lot, I observed Dennis hanging with the lead group, an indication he finished with them.  I demanded to see the video evidence and Paul has provided it here, via a short clip from his video cam http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NguvytBwW_k   although Dennis admitted he got shelled on Stone Quarry but still an admirable achievement to have lasted that long.  Rumor was the front group was especially anxious to drop John Sada, having just returned from a week of riding in Colorado but not sure if that was achieved or not.  Someone help me out here....

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