A small but robust gruppo compacto of 10 met at the Bakehouse at 11am today for a Zone 2 ride. A few teams were represented in this ‘friendly’; participants included Fred, Tom, Jason and Liz from the new Scholars Inn Bakehouse program, veterans Wes from Speedway and Mark (dad of Nick) from Gray Goat. Chicago transplant Hannah from Pegasus was there and a guest from Indy came along, Chris. Also, local pros Guy East (Kelly Benefits) and Ryan Knapp (Panther) rolled out with us, sometimes pulling for miles into the wind, chatting casually side by side, as we sat in behind them two by two. We could only imagine what they were discussing; Belgian attacks and epic solo rides to victory, while we worried about the dishes or the laundry waiting for us at home.
It was 33 and overcast when we left and headed out of town. An earlier check of the weather indicated a high of 41 today with slight winds out of the south. We never got to experience that rise though as the cloud cover stayed with us as we headed south to the flashers on 58. At one point, near the county line it began to sleet a bit. Despite the cold temperatures, however, you can tell that there is something in the air and that the racing season is upon us. A few collegians are racing this weekend at Lindsay Wilson and we should be hearing results soon. Some are at ‘training camps’ far south of Bloomington. For those of us left behind, we know the importance of getting in the miles, or riding the rollers and sticking to our plans. Without this early preparation we know that lining up at the early season events of Louisville or Lexington or Hillsboro may end up being expensive training rides instead of possible podium finishes.
Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 60s. There’s a rumor that several riders are planning to visit from Indianapolis and elsewhere. I would recommend that you shave your legs and head on over to the Bakehouse for an 11 am ride-and get ready for a spirited ride!
A Bridgend high street (Adare street for those that know)
Church now a pub...
Just like my old home...kinda
Proper chips
Church and adjacent Castle that I attended as a youth
Ysgol Gyfun Bryntirion- my 'high' school
View of Pen-y-fai, the village where my parents live
The ride back to Pen-y-fai from the school
Local pub, The Pheasant!
And relax with the 'Comic' (Cycling Weekly) even though the pint was >$6
At home with the 2011 Schwinn!
56cm Fuji Provence frame. Ridden maybe 10 times (too small for me) so is in mint condition. $150 obo.
I also have some wheels to give away (free). They are pretty much all out of true and not great quality but if anyone wants to take them to get trued or for just the hub come and get them tomorrow afternoon after 3pm at 630 Hillside Drive.
Over 50 riders showed up at the Samples Gates for the Devils Backbone ride which I will take a testament to my ideals of inclusivity. There were boys and girls, Little 5ers and grizzled veterans, Pros and rookies! Thanks to teams Teter, Cutters, Gray Goat and PDT who can out en masse- it was a fantastic site to look back and see a 25 person double line snaking out of town. We were blessed with the best weather day in months, relatively light traffic and weirdly no flats for the entire ride! The stars were clearly aligned! The ride proceeded pretty steadily but at a good pace that just required a little pushing for a few on the causeway hill. A long and ultimately foolish leadout to the Lawrence County sign by Sherer and Cox meant at least I won one thing on the day. At Flashers/Heltonville a group of maybe 15 turned for home whilst others proceeded to roads less travelled. A couple of hills and slightly higher pace put a few of us in trouble but we were mostly together as we received the Devil Backbone history lesson from Tom Cox! It was on the next series of rollers toward Leesville where the wheels started to come off. I had the beginnings of cramp but it was Aaron Knapp, on his longest ride in years, who had a full-scale blow up as he tried and failed to get out of the saddle! Kaboom!
A refueling at Leesville was a bonanza for the local store and the pace was a little more subdued for a few miles out of town. On arrival back to sr446 the large group stopped for a brief bathroom break whilst a trailing group of Knapp, Cox, Sherer, Chartier et al kept rolling through to keep Aarons legs moving. However this precipitated a chase from those that stopped where all but two of us made the group. I was burning matches rapidly in the effort but came nowhere near the group, which was a little disappointing. To get dropped is an accepted part of riding but not being in the group to have the chance to get dropped is another entirely. However it was not a surprising turn of events and apparently the ‘top guys’ on this social ride were Rose, West, Rodkey…..
A quick wash and nap before the important part of the day where it was great to see so many bikers out enjoying themselves at Nicks. Thanks (I think) to Drummy for taking photos and congrats to him for stealing answers from the scientists to win the GP-quiz! Thanks to all who came out to make it a great night!
The weather was even better on Sunday and I was pleased to be A, alive and B, be able to help out with the IUCC Womens training race. I doubt anywhere in the world has such a healthy female riding population and there were at least 20riders who came out to compete on two mini-races on 446. After some aggressive racing CvK and Lauren from Teter were 1st and 2nd in the fast downhill sprint (after an awesome leadout ;) while Mindi won the second race to the top of the causeway. Teter were of course riding strongly, as were the Theta rookies, Amy and Kristin have done a great job motivating them into shape! Overall a great sign for IUCC, now Sinead Miller and Kaitlin Antonneau await….
8. Jean-Luc Serriere
6. Ryan Knapp
5. Bennett VDG
4. Eric Young
3. Mike Sherer
2. Guy East
