[Editor's note: I cannot believe that I failed to include the "best line of the week" in the following. I will add it here at the beginning, after this bit of explanation: on rides north out of Stem on "Tally Ho Rd", the road goes down then up, and then down and up, again.]
Upon reaching the crest of the first climb north out of Stem on Tally Ho Rd, Iva, who was behind me, exclaimed with resignation, "Look at THAT hill!"
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Regarding the inquiry "did anything happen on Saturday's ride?"
No, except for the following.
Iva is trying really hard to earn a nickname related to TV commercials and an affliction that hits many males as they age. He has been warned not to let that happen again on Doc Nichols Rd because that is "Speed Time Rd" for the author. Also, as Iva has now completed 59 and 65 mile rides, he is no longer entitled to a "I haven't ever ridden long" sit-in pass.
Dave-not-the-Wave claimed he was recovering from a head / chest cold and therefore got a mostly free pass to just "sit in". However, he did manage to take all the CL "sprints" except the ONE where anyone bothered / knew to challenge him.
The Duke was his usual very strong self despite it being only his second ride of the year. Also, typically, he was unable to "lead" the line and dropped us every time he went to the front. This was especially true if a climb presented itself ahead.
Dave invited Phil. It was Phil's second visit to the "irregular" ride. Phil exhausted his free pass by coming up alongside the leader and begging for an early stop in Creedmoor so he could eat (instead of waiting for the planned stop in Stem). After having spent 28 miles "sitting in", once the guy got a little sugar in him, he was off on the climb into Stem like he had a rocket strapped to his bike. No more early stops just because he is hurting -- I guar-ran-tee.
We were averaging over 16 mph for most of the ride, but I backed-off on Ghoston, Peed, MVC and ended with 15.9 mph for the 65 miles.
skiff
p.s. Okay, okay, due to popular demand from the Human-GPS, Creme-sicle, Eb, Zeb, Ebeneezer, and Tinman, I will explain what happened on the ONE CL that DntW did not "win".
Zeb was leading going down Rock Springs Church Rd, when he realized that he was tired (likely because none of the other bums on the ride had taken any effective pulls all day -- well, darn few anyway) and pulled out of the lead leaving Dave in the lead; he rotated to the back, where he found almost no wind. Within seconds he was recovering. A few more seconds, and after discussion with the Duke in which the Duke said he was spent and likely useless in a sprint, Zeb decided that this time, by gum, Dave was at least going to have to work for the CL "honors".
A difficult trick as Zeb had to jump past three riders to get to Dave, Zeb was not completely familiar with the landmarks from that direction, Dave is the sprinter, not Zeb, and Dave has that mirror. In retrospect, the only advantage I think Zeb may have had was that RockSprings is downslope going that direction; oh, and maybe a mile in the lead might (might) have tired Dave a little. Anyway, Zeb realized we were approaching the CL, and jumped. Somehow, Dave failed to see him coming, and failed to catch his slip-stream. Zeb reports that he still knew in his heart of hearts that Dave could easily take him, but, dang it, Zeb was gonna make Dave work for it. Zeb dug DEEP, much deeper than he did vs. the Iceman the previous week on Bruce Garner. Zeb's whole stomach / abdomen was clinched tight in agony. I think Dave must have decided to let Zeb win.
That about sums up Saturday. Flo-max. No pull bums. Headwind (did I mention that?). And Dave lost the only CL in which anyone {decided / knew where} to challenge him. And I completed my second 100 k in two days (still makes me the wimp as L did 30 miles on Friday and 200 k on Saturday).
Can we please have more of the sprinter types show up regularly to contest these CLs without Zeb having to participate? Harvey? PaulS? Dave-ntW? Iceman? Can you all show up the same week and put the hurtin's on each other? The Duke ought to make a good sprinter too -- as long as he is not in his tri-bar when the sprint starts.
"Pre"-post script:
Dave, 30 minutes after I finished my ride at PUE, I dropped by your house & left a long-valved tube in the helmet hanging from your bike.
The tube, btw, although "unfurled", was never used (I think). There should be nothing wrong with it; esp. if you squeeze all the air out and roll it up tightly so that it will reasonably fit in your saddle-pack.
I saw your truck was gone, so I did not ring the bell, but called Laurie a few minutes later to tell her that I'd left the tube. She said you'd gone to respond to an accident call.
So while one of us goes to golf, and three of us go to take a nap, you do something useful.
You may have bonked a bit today because you likely didn't eat / drink enough, but "who's the man", now?
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