Tuesday Canal Report & Thursday Update

Andrew Clayton sent me these images with his version of what happened and then below is Corvair's version.  The facts do not always line up between the two versions but I chalk that up to the thrill of riding the first Canal COP ride coupled with having done so in strong winds and 40 degree temps.  Also, Jon Sada called to inform me that even though the first official COP New Albany ride is not until the 11th, he and several others will be at the New Albany school parking lot for a 6:00pm ride tonight!

From Andrew: We had our first Tuesday Night Bicycle Ride at Canal. You will be amazed to hear that Amanda showed up at 5:00 PM, 1 hour before starting time. She had 20 maps and liability forms, even with a nice pen for the hard-core riders that showed up. There were around 10 people that showed up, including Mark Clingan. Amazingly, regulars such as Steve "The Ox" and Sloopy were missing. It was between 40-45 degrees with a nasty, strong NW wind. The long route was 28.5 miles and the shorter route 25. The group split up into 3 groups to start with. Dan Restafer took out the 'A's, Mark and I made up the 'B's, and Amanda hung back with the 'C's. It was a good ride for the beginning of the season.

From Corvair:
Basement wench here. I wanted to report to you about last night's ride. It was a balmy 41 degrees when we started last night's ride and I showed up promptly to the Shades parking lot at 5pm, to find only Andrew Clayton in his van, staying there for about 15 minutes for anyone else to show up! He has pictures of me to verify I was there EARLY. You may have to assign another nickname to me as I may now be more reliable than a Corvair…

Anyway, 11 people showed, including Donn "tall dude", Ross, Mark Clingan (in his son's old Buick, complete with puke green plush interior) Jimmy R, and a few others. Among those regulars missing were Oxley and Schleup,Todd probably off in Florida trying to get a tan. We all took off at a nice 18 mph pace, me leading us down the wrong Waterloo road which was an error on the cue sheet. After that, before turning on Slough, The group separated and it was me, Tall dude and Ross in the chilly wind. I eventually fell between those two and the front group, and watched as everyone got farther and farther away, but I could see the lead group for many miles, about a mile ahead. Andrew said Jimmy R took off. I lost them at Winter road. After that, it was a long, windy, cold
trudge back to Canal, where at the corner of Perrill and Winchester I caught back up to Ross and Donn.

You can either put this in the blog or smother us with more tales of warm, sunny Cali, of which I prefer. Hope you are enjoying yourself. Should be warm by the weekend. It was only 39 degrees when we finished the ride, and most of us got into the car and cranked up the heat!

Well Corvair, there are more high grade images and low grade reports to come, including the climb up Gibraltar while overlooking an unusually unsunny Santa Barbara.  Many thanks for being this year's first Canal ride leader, arriving early and providing a report but it is not "basement wench" it is "ink stained wretch" as the title for filling in with a ride report.