This past weekend saw a couple of really great rides. Saturday's NAS Back Door Loop saw the peloton cruising through southwest Pensacola without a pedal stroke in anger. (attempt to mimmick Phil Liggett) Heading west on Jaskson under friendly skies we rolled along around 20mph until Sheila dropped a water bottle. When somebody stopped to pick it up Carol Ann slammed into the back of him thus breaking her shifter and receiving a bit of road rash from the Jackson Street pave'. The previous SheBeast Award winner, got up off the floor, brushed herself off and continued on to finish the ride using only her platto petito. (Uh, that's the small chainring for those of you less fortunate than my multilingual self) Amazing! And for this, Carol Ann is again awarded the SheBeast Award for the week. Congrats Carol Ann Chandler! Uh, ask Woody for your award.
Another casualty of the ride was Josh Sharpe's handcycle machine. Might be time for an upgrade there big guy. Or, at least some replacement parts. He could not have broken down in a better place...right in front of Teen Challenge. David Mayo knew somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody who ...well you get the idea...they gave Josh a ride home.
Once on NAS, the Count of Monte Fishbone cranked it up, thus verifying the suspicion that he has been doing the dubious early morning Double Secret Workouts. In fact, when I contacted him today for comment, the Count expressed that he was in Tampa! I guess the spotters with the video surveillance deployed throughout Pensacola scared him into training down south. I would say that this controversy has been discovered to be fact! All in favor?
Tim "Grocery" Fox broke another spoke on Saturday's ride thus verifying the conspiracy against the Clydesdale boys. What sinister forces are at work within the peloton these days! Who knows what lurks around the next curve...
Sunday's ride was an amazing forced hammerfest. Only 4 riders showed up, (3 Clydesdales and 1 Wannebee) for what looked to be at best a soaking wet ride. The skies were as dark as I have ever seen them. We debated whether to go south or west or back home. We decided to give it a go and headed west on Summit to north on 12th. We had not even made it to Airport Blvd when we decided that any amount of distance to the north was absolutely futile. So a quick left hander on Airport was in order. We hammered across the length of Airport and blasted through a few neighborhoods until we popped out on Massachusetts. We stomped on it west on Massachusetts with one eye on the ever growing storm chasing just over our shoulder...it was a wall of blackness and we were fleeing it with everything we had.
Across Mobile Highway and more southward and westward roads until we reached Hwy 98. We had all taken pulls of equal duration at speeds in the mid to upper 20s. Man, when you have a monster like that chasing you somehow you don't get tired! South on Fairfield to Gulf Beach Hwy and a much needed stop at the Shell station to fill the bottles and check the skies. The storm appeared to be breaking up. I telephoned the lovely Mrs. Graves back home. She expressed that it had been pouring for 45 minutes but that now it was a light drizzle. "I think we beat it", exclaimed Left Lane. He was quickly chided as trying to jinx us.
We headed back through Navy Point and the Country Club at an easy pace as we watched the skies get lighter and lighter. We didn't want to hammer right back into the face of the beast. When we got downtown the roads were soaked by we were not! All the way back we didn't get one rain drop. We had, in fact, outrun the storm and made it back without even getting a sprinkle. I can't remember having so much fun on a bike ride since way back in northwest Ohio when we used to ride towards a storm until we felt the first raindrop then quickly turn around and stomp on it to try and beat the storm back home. Great fun!
Well, let's have some more fun tonight...and this weekend!!! Please check out the Ride Calendar at the bottom of the blog for the ride details. Tonight is bound to be another hammerfest with a bit of cat and mouse and the all important final sprint for the weekly bragging rights. I, for one, can't wait to...
...see you out on the road,
Bob
want to but I have other commitments and healing wounds.
ReplyDelete"Twin Six"
Weather permitting I'll be back next Wednesday. I might even bring the new purpose built single speed.
ReplyDeleteWhat healing wounds? Has the Twin Six gone down? Say it isn't so?!
ReplyDeleteI caught some loose sand and the bike washed out from under me on the Saturday ride in Blackwater with only 6 miles to go on my 56 mile day.
ReplyDeleteWound inventory
both palms are hamburger
slight sprain to right wrist
Road rash to the left leg especially the hip.
Blood on the ripped bar tape and a scraped shifter
He was distracted by some cycling babes that were taking a break there at the trail entrance. One of them gave him a box of band-aids & her bandana to dress his wounds.
ReplyDeleteThat last comment was me, I had to fix my profile.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, the dreaded distraction by the cycling babes syndrome. Many an experienced macho male rider has gone down because of some toots stopping to sip on her water bottle. Yup, I don't know which is worse, the actual crash and lingering wounds or the fact that you did it in front of the biker chicks!
ReplyDeleteHope you heal up quick...you're missed in the peloton.
I was not there but I have another take on the Murphy incident. Could it be that he was confused by all of those gears he has on his bike now?? Too much time on the single speed perhaps?? Do they make training wheels for Bianchi's??
ReplyDeleteJust bustin on ya Murphy!! Heal up and get back soon.