Tuesday New Albany Ride Report

The Cycling Club Tuesday ride.  Heretofore a congenially paced ride for those aching from a hard weekend of riding, for those wanting a real "B" pace and for those stronger then a B pace but don't mind slotting in and socializing.  It was fun while it lasted but so many newcomers who are not steeped in the traditions of the Cycling Club have torn it all asunder.  Who would be responsible, Flyin Tuna on the left, infamous for her near lethal jackrabbit spurts after rest stops and ride starts?  Or.....

....would it be John (on the right) a solid member of the Thursday New Albany Kiler B's who would bring the killer spirit to this ride or....

.....Terry Griffith (on the right behind Gus Cook), the #1 ranked Cat 4 racer in Ohio who hasn't ridden at a B pace since he was 14?  Terry probably finds a B pace as foreign as a Pilgrim from Plymouth Rock finding himself in the 21st century.  Or, would it be Gus Cook, competitive instinct aroused and chasing breakaways at breakneck speed?  Or, maybe another newcomer, Dave Chesrown, would be responsible for the break in Tuesday protocol?  Actually, it was all of the above. 

We gathered, around 30-35 of us for the usual ride to Alexandria and beyond.  We headed out together for what was a moderately paced ride out old 161, left on 310, right on Jug and in to Alexandria.  Then we entered the hill country, left on Mounts, continue left on to Battee, emerged on to Hardscrabble for a brief regroup then back on to Battee, left on Loudon and then left on to Stone Quarry.  The pace had progressively gotten faster and when we hit SQ, it ratcheted up another notch.  Looking down at my Garmin, I saw our average speed was 19+mph. I looked back and quite a few of us had dropped off and so I did too, torn between staying with the pack to draft into the head wind or falling back to organize a sub group for the way back.  Hmmmmm, what to do, what to do.  I did neither and rode along between the pack and the stragglers, of which I was now one, watching wistfully as the pack pulled away. 

Wait, what luck, they paused on Concord so I was able to rejoin and enjoyed the ride to Johnstown where an agreement was reached among a few; maybe they should cut back a bit seeing as we were now down to 12 cyclists.  Crazy George had been dropped, Benton and some usually fairly solid B cyclists were no longer there.  And so a truce was reached and we finished with around 38 miles.