The Thursday ride Report, such as it is

Usual ride leader Rick Miller took the family to the Granville street fair and fireworks but no worries, he prepared a route and John volunteered to lead, above shaking hands with retired ride leader Jeff Fennel.  I was curious how many would show for tonight's ride but quite a few did, over 40.

Some new people came out, including Andrew Hall, making the long drive up from Fairfield County to test the competitive waters of the New Albany ride.

Farmer Mike on the right with Bobby Goetz, a sometime attendee, better known for his mountain biking prowess.

Hendra highlighted a small A group of around 17 cyclists.  Above, his new frame arrived and he is back riding his own bike after his crash of a couple of weeks ago.

Benton on the right listens to the pre-ride announcements.  Benton just returned from a ride in CO.

Pete C on the left was here too, along with fellow A's like Philipe, Muscle Dude, Jr. Muscle Dude (John Day), Ron Budzig, Shannon Kurek, Patrick Warren, etc...  Not there was Marty, riding and hiking in the wilderness of Montana.  We rolled out old 161, hopes high save for me who had subterranean expectations after 3 weeks of relative cycling inactivity.  We turned left on Kitzmiller then after turning right on Smiths Mill, the pace ratcheted up.  Turning left on Beech, there was no pause and already someone popped, which was a harbinger of things to come becaue after turning right on Jug, John Day left the group with me attached to his back wheel.  Oh well and looking ahead, in rapid succession, Andrew Hall, Craig Rice and Ron B all dropped as well. 

John pulled me to Ron and Andrew while Craig dropped off because he did not feel well.  Our foursome rode in to Alexandria with a 23.3 avg, exited the village via Mounts, right on Lobdell and eventually getting on to Louden headed north towards Dry Creek.  I was not doing well so I stayed on Louden to Stone Quarry and noticed my left pedal felt odd.  Soon, it began swiveling from the crank arm but I nursed it back to the parking lot.  The hole in the crank arm was completely stripped but hero mechanic, Rick Miller plugged in a temporary fix and although I missed the Blue Jay ride on Friday, I made the Saturday Canal Winchester ride and more on that soon.  Also, a new bike is scheduled to be delivered this week. 

Yes, Thursday is July 3rd, the day before the 4th and some or many of you have other things going on but for those of us who don't have a life other than cycling, we get to ride.  Even if you have a fireworks party to attend, you'll be off the bike by 8:30ish and have plenty of time to make the event.  You know they don't start shooting off the rockets until 9:45 at the earliest anyway so come on out and enjoy this week's route.  Naturally, I have many events I could attend but journalistic obligations require that I be at New Albany to record the happenings.  For the downloadable routes, go to:  http://www.thecyclingclub.org/route-resources/c-o-p-thursday-night-cycling-club-ride/