Tuesday Canal Ride Report---Da Boss Returns

Grand Poobah watches as Paul Stock, surprised to discover a flat tire, rapidly fixes it.  It was that kind of night for the men and women of the Tuesday Canal Winchester ride.

Dean is back on the bike after a 6 week hiatus caused by a crash with a dog.  He got a new helmet out of the deal and a very expensive invoice from the emergency room visit.  Ouch.  As big as Dean's return was, since it was only 6 weeks there was a bigger return.....

.....how about this sighting!  Craig Butler, formerly "Da Boss" of the peloton (this was before, Marty, Travis, Ken, Jon, Terry, Luke, Lori, Patrick...well quite a few others who got serious about the sport) came out for his 6th ride of the year. It's been several years since he rode with us. Still running those crazy 100 mile trail run events but kind of excited about cycling so maybe he will re-enter the game. It's an entirely different game in certain locales.

This event has been getting a good turnout this season.  Ric Nolan, of Cyclist Connection, urges new cyclists to come out who visit his store and they do.  There have been as many as 3, C groups roll out. 

I think it also helps that the ride start is in front of Brewdogs so some people come for the JBD (justify beer drinking), do the ride and then stroll in for a pint or two. 

The A group rolled out, still not a large turnout for that one, then the above B+ group gets going, followed by the regular B and then 1-3 C groups.

An idyllic roll out via a bike path but soon we are on open roads, passing Jeff and Mitch who are fixing a flat and then a few miles later.....

.....whoa.  Got to leave the group to get a pic of this.  The woman on the left was anxious to fix her own flat, no doubt about it but Jake Dillon insisted that she keep her hands clean and to allow a professional to do the chore.  Once they got going, I rode with them but they soon wore me out so I left this group, got in some planned 4 minute intervals while heading north to get on the return portion of the route.  There I stumbled upon the Rossi tandem and rode back with them, finishing with 34 miles and an 18.1 avg.  Then I strolled into Brewdogs and had a cold beer while buying one for Corvair.  She was celebrating the return to a normal life by holding down one job rather than two.