Mark's Cycling & Hiking Blog
  • Home
  • Mark's Cycling Blog
  • Contact Us
  • Boulder Canyon Posts
  • Cycling Event Meet-Ups
  • Home
  • Mark's Cycling Blog
  • Contact Us
  • Boulder Canyon Posts
  • Cycling Event Meet-Ups

The Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde Ride

10/21/2010

1 Comment

 
Picture
The early starting Thursday New Albany ride set an attendance record with Dennis, Jeff S, Cindy, SuperDave and Nathan all gathering with the wind howling from the west.  The plan was to ride hard and fast straight out 161 before turning back into what we hoped was diminished wind.  It worked perfectly except it didn't seem like the wind slackened at all.  Oh, Nathan forget a pair of cycling tights but Cindy had a pair of pantyhose and Nate was happy to wear that instead.

Picture
We headed out old 161 with SuperDave putting in a super pull of 2 miles.  Then, Dennis took over in the long, slightly uphill slog, hammering away with a steadily increasing speed that had us touching 30mph.  After 2 miles of this I began frantically hoping he would tire soon but no, he kept it going for 3 miles, all the way out to 310.  This was my fifth day in a row of riding or running and my legs were toast so when it was my turn to pull it was thankfully on the mostly glorious downhill, downwind sections with speeds barely out of the low 20'smph.  After 2 miles of this nonsense, I turned things over to Cindy and maybe during her 1 mile pull we reached 35mph, finally slowing at York Road just south of Alexandria.  Our average at that point was 24.4 and you may be wondering where Jeff was during this outward run.  We were holding him in reserve.   We headed south on York with Jeff at the front and soon, he had several gasping with the combination of crosswind and speed.  We worked our way through the super rollers and emerged at Hollow Road for the turn directly into the wind.  We had gone 4 miles since turning out of the comfort of the down wind and our average had dropped 4 mph.
 
During the ensuing miles, only two of us took pulls, Jeff and yes, me. 
Dennis = 0 pulls. 
Dave = 0 pulls.
Cindy = you can guess the pattern by now.

Recumbent Dude = who cares since when he pulls it doesn't count. 
It would be hard to say which of us took the longest pull but Jeff took one and I took one and that's all that matters. It was brutal at the front and even at the rear it was no day at the beach.  We discovered Mark Vonderhar somewhere out there, having gone off solo from a park on Clarks State Road.  We convinced him he didn't want to face the wind alone so he joined in.  We eventually finished just as the sun was hitting the horizon with 29 miles and a 19.3 average.

1 Comment
S. Clemens
10/23/2010 07:42:56 am

There are lies, damned lies and statistics.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Mark is a long-time cyclist, hiker, golfer and plays some table tennis...ok, it's ping pong.

    Categories

    All
    April
    California Riding
    Grand Canyon Backpacking
    March
    The Characters

    Archives

    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.