Tuesday New Albany Ride Report

Things were pretty quiet at the parking lot and then George arrived, indicating the start of the pre-ride entertainment phase. This evening he talked about Saturday's ride out of Heath, all the hills, how badly he beat everyone on the hills, wondered how I could keep up with him, etc..  There is a very good ride this Saturday, starting in Zanesville (more later) that includes a brief stop at the Big Muskie Bucket.  I made sure George knew about this option as it too will have hills and plenty of them.

There was quite a bit of talk about last Thursday's New Albany B group and how rather than separate into a B and B+ group in the parking lot, it was done so on the road.  Knowing this, the B+ types attempted to stay in the front of the group but some were in the back when the split was made.  All seemed in favor of making up the groups in the parking lot rather than on the road.

Our ride leader, Gus, arrived along with Peggy and our group of 22 headed out but rather than exiting via the roundabout...

...we tried the more direct route and unfortunately got clogged up at the stop sign.  Just no good way to get out as either faces a traffic hurdle.  We took the usual good route into Alexandria at a modest pace, exited via Mounts, hit a few climbs and as usual.....

....paused at Battee to look westward and see who had yet to make the regroup point.  Once regathered, we eventually got on to the Stone Quarry rollers where I like to ride alongside George and pip him at the final summit.  Dude is getting stronger and the season, with about 6 weeks to go, should end just barely before I tumble behind him in our SQ race.

We make a final regroup at the end of Stone Quarry, prior to shoving off and returning at a faster pace to the parking lot where I had 37 miles and a 20.2 avg.  Above, left to right, Jeremy in red, Pete, Axel with John in white/black kit.  John thought my report of Saturday was a bit tough and yes, the problem with the format of a blog, without the tone of voice, leaves it open to interpretation but all that I write is with tongue planted firmly in cheek.  Nevertheless, contact was made through Flyin Tuna's representatives and her and my reps are discussing terms of a vaguely worded apology.