A cadre of semi-professional elitely dedicated recreationally amateur triathletes gathered in front of Bicycle Sport early in the morning on Sunday. With a light breeze, blue skies and a temperature hovering around thirty-five degrees there was much grumbling and moaning about the amount of clothes each rider was forced to wear. With the number of attractive women on the team, the men were also grumbling about the amount of clothing. That being said, everyone exited from their SUV and mounted their chosen steed and headed off into the wild blue yonder.
With the chosen workout for the day being "none," the group headed leisurely down Selwyn, eventually making its way to East Boulevard before crossing the train tracks onto 8-mile road - oops I mean West Boulevard. Because everyone was interested in chatting about their winter whereabouts and staying true to the chosen workout ("none") the group split at the lights and the "fast," more "aggressive" riders were slow-pedaling to allow the group to re-form.
As usual, the airport loop involved a pass by the airport, which is always as pleasant as listening to Chris Cummins wax poetically (and by poetically, I mean the opposite of that) about how he's going to swim 15k yards per week this year!
At the first incline on Mt Olive Church Rd James Haycraft made a bid to secure the January Ride MVP status by attacking with one hundred million watts on the long, gradual climb up to Dixie Rd. Despite looking back multiple times in an effort to antagonize certain players in the peloton, nobody took the bait and James promptly blew up and came to a semi-standstill. As everyone passed and harangued him mercilessly he struggled to get back on the back of the group.
On Dixie Rd the two Behmes began their workout of "threshold-y intervals" lasting long enough to hurt and soon left everyone in their dust. Both managed to put out impressive speed despite the fact that their clothing weighed them down by an extra 18 pounds. Of course, with John, it might have just been the extra weight his butt was holding, an award that Watkins usually manages to win with ease during these wintry rides.
Without further ado, the group made it's way up Sanctuary Hill and onto Sledge Rd before turning onto the most-trafficked route on the route, Steel Creek (or something like that). The wind was nastily into the face and the effects of the longest ride of the year (for many of the riders) was beginning to tell on the participants.
James, trying yet again to drop everyone, received a red card from drafting official John Behme and was relegated to the back of the peloton. At that point, for all intents and purposes, the ride was over and everyone was happy to be close to finishing. As the group made it's way back to Bicycle Sport the thoughts of delicious brunch filled everyone's heads.
Scott Woodbury won Food MVP as he consumed approximately 45,000 calories at brunch as everyone else settled in to a more moderate pacing of their consumption. But that is Scott Woodbury in a nutshell: go big or go home!
Everyone that was able to stay for brunch at Nolen's thoroughly enjoyed their food and the ride was a fun introduction back into long(er) rides for everyone! Hope to see more people out there for future such events!!
2 comments:
"With the number of attractive women on the team, the men were also grumbling about the amount of clothing."
PIG!!! And you dare to remove my posts. Shame on you.
Well, I'd have evened it out and said the ladies were grumbling about the men wearing too much clothing but we'd all know that's not true!
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