Thursday Ride Report

Turns out 605 was open, one way going north so people parked in the original lot or the satellite lot and rode their bikes over but they came.  A large willow tree, hollowed out by squirrels, fell overnight, taking down a good sized walnut so I had yard work to do before heading out of town on Saturday.  People did not want to hear the truth though, they wanted to speculate about why I was not riding.  The best was I had to arrive at the local jail by 7:00 to spend the weekend.

Marty S and Chris G. Someone came up to me prior to the ride to let me know he had overheard conversation at Starbucks and there would be an attack on Thresher.  Wow!  Now that's some good insider info and I appreciate the head's up but while they were humping up Thresher, I'd be gunning a chainsaw.

Whew, that's a relief, Elaine came back.  I thought that after last week's behavior of our group lech, Dirty Dan, it may have scared her away but back she was and with Kayla too.  Brian studies the map and good to see that Surge was back for another round after last week's calamitous meeting with the berm.

Farmer Mike listens to.....maybe Rene is her name?  Not sure.

Rich Lewis with Todd Mullens.  Don't see much of Todd on Thursdays, too bad, good guy and what ever happened to Poobah?  Probably doing some flat ride on the west side of Columbus.  New Albany routes are becoming far too hilly for the two-timer.

Patrick signs in and later was involved in a crash coming back into town but rolled over, bounced up and with a stitch or two, the kit can make a comeback.

Paul Stock, new guy and Corvair.  I thought it unusual when Patrick, Hendra and Pete rode into the Canal parking lot without Paul.  Sounds like Paul got caught out by an unusually fast start that night.

So, good turnout considering the strong wind out of the northwest, around 45-50.  The A group rolled out followed by the B group, which was quite strong, led out by Dennis.  With that, I turn things over to Marty, who provided the below report.

After Chatham, Craig Rice and another guy were gapped and chasing.  After a mile or two I could see that they were still chasing and doing a good job of it.  I felt bad for them and was impressed at how hard they were working.  I figured that they could use a hand so I turned around and gave them some help.  I could see some of the guys in the lead group look back and they were now having some fun with us.  We slowly closed the gap but it took a long time.  Craig can tell the story better.  Then after we caught up Craig and I gave it everything we had and we took the Caswell Steps King of the Mountain side by side.

I was out in front as we made the final turn off Kitzmiller onto old 161.  I stayed close to the shoulder and when the sprinters had enough of my cruising along they all bolted past me on my left.  Craig stayed with me and we had picked up Old Mike as we rolled into town.  The three of us witnessed wheels flying in the air just ahead of us.  Always a terrible thing to see.  The best I could tell, Will Gleason had a chain slip off his big ring and went down.  Patrick Warren somehow ended up going down but managed to
roll it off and he looked like a million bucks like he always does.  We even teased him that he can still wear his jersey after a few small holes are stitched up.   It looked like Will broke his left collar bone and I am sure it will be very painful.  He also had a case of road rash on his left elbow that will really hurt.  We had Dr. Jay Passias to help us.  Will’s mom and brother quickly came over and Rich Lewis helped Will into his car.

Shannon has created the above route and it and the other distance options can be seen here: http://hfpracingnews.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/new-albany-cop-ride-thursday-june-13-2013/
With 605 closed in front of the school, we will park elsewhere, with the below a suggested spot from Shannon but we will gather our bikes in the normal parking lot location and depart on our bikes from there.  As you can see below, there are bike paths or side walks that can be followed from the alternate parking lot to the traditional start, which is just north of the image.  Hope the weather clears in time for the ride.