Thursday New Albany Ride Report

How about that?  Perhaps a sales rep for Raleigh shows up.  Until today, I did not know Lapierre was a brand owned by Raleigh. I think he rolled out with the A group but a bad night for we who are members of the cannon fodder club.  Guys like......

.....Luke Russell showed up.  As I rode alongside Luke out 161, anticipating a match-up as we were only two back from the front, I pleaded with him to think of me as his grandmother when we reached the front.  I hoped with this mental image, he would soften the punches.  Oh and the strong just kept rolling in.....

....two weeks ago, Patrick was in the south of France, riding every day for 2 weeks.  Listening to him describe climbing up the Alpe and other famous climbs, my legs began to feel like jelly.  Marty, arrived, Ken Buddell, Chris G, Pete Czerwinski,Travis, Goeric, Larry P, Philippe, Lori N, around 20 that would make up the A group.  Lori had a good weekend.  Rode the 80 mile HOOT route on Saturday, ran and won a 5k Sunday morning, came in 3rd in a 3/4 crit Sunday afternoon followed by a pack finish in the 1/2/3 crit.  Any one of those would be a good day for most of us.

Our ride leader, Rick, was late arriving so Steve Hewitt found sign-up sheets and began the process.  I had waited patiently for my turn to sign in when it was abruptly interrupted by that distinctive sound of carbon fiber snapping.  We all looked up and.....

....discovered someone had placed their BMC bike in front of their van.  Then decided to move the van in while doing that, rolled over the bike.  Too, too bad.  Hope insurance covers it and what a crummy way to start and end a ride in one fell swoop.

Rick arrived with only a few minutes to spare.  He was not in a peaceful state of mind.

Chris G rolls through as I snap a pic of the gang awaiting the start of the ride.

Rick called the bunch together, again totaling around 70+ to give an impassioned plea that we not do stupid stuff on the road, especially riding left of center.  With that, off we went.....

.....into a hot sun, over hot pavement with a hot wind out of the south.  The kind of night when you have a love/hate relationship with stops.  Grateful as I am for a pause but the oppressive humidity/heat hits hard.  We rolled out 161 with a pace that was noticeably faster than last week.  At the 310 stop we were right on 24mph avg.  Up Wadkins, left on Weslyn Church, right on York, the briefest of pauses at #16, screamed down York to Blacks.  The speed was high but also noticed someone was hitting it hard after turns and stops.  We shed a few along the way.  My strategy is to survive the vicious pulls by those who pull viciously (Ken Buddell, Pete C most notably my legs tell me) and recover during those who can but don't usually punish.  After the down hill rocket ride on Blacks, we reached #37 with still a 24mph avg.  Crossing 37, someone hit a slight ramp hard and I was done, at mile 20 something. 


I had planned to stop at the top of Canyon and take pics of the first ones to top out in the Super B group but suddenly, the idea of standing in that sun and heat lost its appeal so I rode home (having ridden to New Albany at the start)....

...drank lots of water, grabbed a cold beer form the fridge, waited at the driveway for the Supes B's, drank said beer rapidly, coasted down to the corner and here they came.  Gus Cook, Danny A, Mike Rea, Jeremy and others.  Very strong group.  They looked hot and tired then....

....then Katherine and Glen rolled through.  Glen was out of water so I was happy to refill for him with ice cubes. Then...

....the regular B's came through, Kim Owens leading the way.  So, for the 29 miles of the route I completed, I had a 21.3 avg (the avg sure do drop like a stone when ya get out of the draft and throw the Canyon climb in there) while the lead A group finished with a 22.4 avg.    Hey, don't forget the Blue Jay ride on Saturday at 8:00am from the Newark YMCA.

  

Yes, it is the same as last week but it is a good route and deserves to be ridden again, especially since Rick will be here and wants to ride the route, OK?  See the links here: http://www.thecyclingclub.org/club-rides/thursday-evening-ride/  And remember, print your own map if able.