Story of the Irregulars, Chpt 2, Vignettes - addendum - part i

I can hardly believe that I forgot to include the following in the initial chpt 2 vignettes.

There were a couple times, when the "irregulars" group consisted of only Barry & me, that we were overtaken by the group of Lynn & Larisa (the progenitors of the "irregulars").  I don't' recall which came first, but I'll relate them in the following order.

As we reached Six Forks / NC-98 at the beginning of our ride, a group was catching us.  Because of the color(s) of one of the jerseys, I thought the group was Lynn, Larisa, et al.  After crossing NC-98, I started soft-pedalling waiting for the L&L group to catch up while Barry rode ahead at a usual pace.  That group we had seen never did catch us; it turned out they were not the L&L group and had apparently turned to follow NC Bike Route #2 onto NC-98.

However, as we climbed from the Neuse River / Falls Lake on New Light Rd, Barry still ahead but with me slowly closing the gap, a different group began passing us.  This time it was the L&L group: Lynn, Larisa, Blay, and a second male rider.  The L&L's turned onto Old Weaver, Barry followed, and then I followed.  Barry & I were able to use the downslopes on Old Weaver to catch onto the wheels of the L&L's by the time we all reached the lake.

How long did we think we'd be able to hold on to the pedestrian pace being set by L&L (Blay & the other guy were following)?  (I should mention that the pace was "pedestrian" for L&L, but not for us.) I don't know what Barry thought or hoped, I don't recall what I thought or hoped. but what I should have expected to occur, did in fact happen:  As soon as Old Weaver tilted upslope toward Whitt Rd, Barry & I went backwards as if we were dragging anchors.  We waved "good-bye" to L&L & co.

It would probably be better if I didn't continue with the second part of the story from that day, but before we reached NC-50, Barry & I were swept up by another group from Finley Y (actually two groups, intermingled).  The "second" of the intermingled group consisted of the famous Margo and one or two guys she often rode with.  The "main" part of the intermingled group consisted of a group that Lynn had begun to refer to as "the inconsistent group".  "Inconsistent" because of surging when in line, braking when in line, not holding a straight line.

Many of the now three intermingled groups were stopped at the stop sign on Old weaver at NC-50, waiting for the car traffic to clear (L&L & co were long-gone - almost certainly out of sight on the other side of NC-50 rapidly descending to the lake once again).  Suddenly, one guy on a bike (I refuse to refer to him as a cyclist) reaches the stopped riders and immediately makes a move to jump past all of us.  He did seem to have good acceleration.  Luckily, he also had good braking ability.  As he began to rush past the stopped riders, several were able to yell at him things such as "STOP!" and/or "CARS!".

He got stopped.  Barely.

I took my time re-starting from the stop sign because I wanted nothing to do those "inconsistent", apparently suicidal, riders.  After crossing NC-50, the last of the "inconsistents" passed us and Barry asked if we should grab their wheels.  I had been watching during the 1/4 or 1/2 mile since NC-50 and advised that we should just let the group go.  I had already witnessed at least 2 riders pull out of line, in front of overtaking cars, in order to pass other riders.  I saw no advantage to getting into the middle of such a muddle.

I don't know if Barry thought I was being foolish or not, but he acquiesced, and we let the "inconsistent" group go on their way and we went on ours.

Interestingly, we later were intermingled once again with L&L & co.  They had ridden a different, slightly (?) longer course than we had.  Of course, Barry & I were once again dropped on the first noticeable upslope.