Thursday New Albany Ride Report--NBB Arrives

Another low turnout kind of evening but the NBB (New Bike Boy) was there.  John noted George certainly seemed to be coasting faster as George spent the entirety of his time prior to the ride, cruising the parking lot, never coming to a full stop.  Note the bike also has a Powertap and we wondered if he knew that added a pound to the bike's weight but still, the net gain from his steel bike must be huge.

David Smith looks on as Pete Ashmore wonders if brother Matt is coming and....

....soon, Matt too arrives and signs in with Gus and Axel.  The 40-45 were spread all over the parking lot so I was unable to get a decent group shot.  The A group especially was small, maybe 10ish but I busy putting away the sign-in sheets and missed the count.  Knowing all but a few would roll out with the fast B group, I suggested we leave as one and so.....

....we did, all 29 of us.  Above left to right is Jay, Pete, Ron, Farmer Mike and Corvair.  I did the math, 30 miles divided by 29 cyclists = possibly no drafting as I drift deeper into the unfit category.  In fairness, I'd be doing that calculation in June too.  We rolled way out 161 at a very comfortable speed but things became a bit chaotic.  First, Greg drifted back through the middle of the pack rather than pulling to the side, which prompted a wave of, "Hey", "What the..." and "What?" calls.  Then we over took a cast-off from the A group and rather than join in from either side, he too hung in the middle of the road and drifted through our midsection prompting more, "Hey", "What the..." and "What?" calls. Then we over took a strung out group of 5 cyclists who had been waiting for someone to fix a flat.  You never know when one of them will suddenly turn left to see how things are progressing behind so as we approached each, several of us made loud sounds.  Then the A cast-off went to the front and the pace caused the group to reform into a long line.  Thinking it would be best not to splitter the group at our farthest point from the parking lot, I pulled alongside and asked him to throttle it back just a bit. We reached the York turn and I went to the back of the pack, my rightful place.

Of course, being at the back just as we arrived at the York Road hills is a bad idea but with the assistance of the Scottish Kilt dude, Mark Rossi, John Sada, Michael and others, we managed to catch the front just as they turned right on 310 and we stayed together to the end, even over taking New Bike Boy and finishing with a 21.8 avg.  Meantime, up ahead, the A group whittled down some more, then got off route shortening the ride to 28 miles but finished with a 24mph avg.  At the parking lot, someone mentioned they check the blog a couple of times a day (I should protect the name least he be subject to ridicule) and Luke Russell, the funny bone that he is said, "I haven't checked the blog in 2 years cause it's been that long since anything interesting was posted there."

Post ride, while the A group survivors (usual suspects of Ken Buddell, Marty, Luke, etc...) talk about KOM points, sign sprint wins, blazing a 30 mile route under an hour, etc... the little people above, left to right, John, Rick, Michael, John Sada and Axel, have no such accomplishments so we talk about Saturday ride options and other mundane stuff.  More on ride options later today.