Thursday New Albany Ride Report

3:22pm, Thursday, an email pops into my in box.  Rick Miller can not make the ride tonight and he has exhausted all the alternatives prior to scraping the very bottom of the barrel, me.  I crank up my office copier and after a few coughs and spurts it roars to life and manages to churn out a few copies of the sign-up sheet.  Good thing no one expects maps anymore.  Arriving at the parking lot, I spot Jeff S's van and ask if I can use the flat surface of the back for signing the mob in and he graciously agrees.

With all the heavy lifting over I can relax and return to the annoying but necessary work of taking images of the parking lot scene.  Here, Marty tells Jillian he is headed to WV for a mountain bike race on Sunday, along with Pete C, Hendra, Philippe and others.

Marty knows how to work a crowd and soon he is talking to Ken Buedell who not only was just upgraded to Cat 3 but tonight hung in with the Elite Eight of finishers (Shannon, Patrick, Hendra, Pete C, Marty, Bad Boy Nick...hmmm, missing someone) as they finished with a 23.7 average, skewed by an off route turnaround so actual average would have been around 24mph.

Flyin Tuna came out for her first Thursday ride and hung in with the lead B group to the end, where they finished with a 20.1 average on tonight's 40 mile B route.  Mark Rossi on the right, waiting for Karen to arrive in separate vehicle to reunite on the tandem.  Unfortunately, some guy driving a black truck threw a container of tobacco juice at them and made a direct hit.  Good for him, striking a blow for the ignorant cowards of the world.

Left to right, Jillian, Bad Boy Nick, Hendra, Chris G and Pete C.  Decent but not great turnout of around 45-50 cyclists.  So, maybe it is not such a good idea for me to ride 100 miles on Tuesday.  Maybe too much too close to the Thursday ride and even during the warm-up, my legs were dead and soon, deader yet.  I am certain I was the first to drop out of the group.  Soon, I heard a noise behind me and there was Dave Chesrown, making an earnest effort to catch the group.  I pulled in behind and drafted for 4-5 miles before catching Benton and then rode with him to Clouse-Willison Road where he turned to go home.

Around mile 24, the lead B group caught me and I fell in with this rather large group comprised of Katherine, David Smith, Flyin T, Benny, John (below on right), Jeff S, John Miller, Corvair, Axel and many more.  Good group and also good to ride with a group for the remaining miles back to the parking lot. 

The Rick Miller show continues as he will be at the parking lot with sign-up sheets and a welcoming smile for all who wish to motor around the above routes in either the A, B or C group.  Specific routes and links to the gps file, go to the Cycling Club website:
http://www.thecyclingclub.org/route-resources/c-o-p-thursday-night-cycling-club-ride/