The Lillian Loop Never Disappoints

This past weekend showed us two fabulous February rides. First, on Saturday, we rode the infamous Lillian Loop followed by Left Lane's 9 Mile Madness ride on Sunday afternoon. Beautiful weather both days.

On Saturday we headed towards Lillian from Fish and Wildlife. We had waited an extra few minutes as there was a rumor that David "Bad Mayonnaise" Mayo was riding but hadn't shown his smiling face yet. He did indeed show, just didn't stop. Just as we were leaving, with no warning whatsoever, there goes the Bad Mayo himself charging down Gregory thinking we were ahead of him. We were all laughing as we tracked him down and pulled back on the reins to his chariot.

We cruised down the length of Jackson then jogged over to Lillian Hwy and turned right onto Hwy 98 toward our destination. We had the proverbial obligatory sprint into Lillian with some new Young Jedi winning just ahead of The Foxinator. We stopped in at the gas station to fill the bottles before beginning the loop through the sweet home Alabama countryside.

The loop around Lillian was fantastic with great roads with little or no traffic. At one point we did have to race a tractor, (don't ask), but other than that it was uneventful...in other words, no Armadillo Incident. (ask later) After the left hander onto the road that parallels the Perdido Bay, the pace quickened somewhat. It appeared that several of the boys wanted the Fried Green Tomato Sprint prize. This is the last sign as we approach the light at Hwy 98. El Foxo had cranked up the pace for a good almost 2 kilometers and turned the pace making over to the big Clydesdale boy nicknamed "Vortex".

We'll pause for a moment from our story to explain the uh, Vortex title. The definition of vortex, according to Websters...and I quote; "A whirling mass, especially one with the force of suction." Apparently, more than a few in the peloton have benefited from a certain uh, "whirling mass" as he charges down the road towards a finish line. His draft, or shall we say, his "force of suction" makes for the perfect leadout. Thus the new nickname Vortex. I think it is actually an offhanded compliment and certainly an improvement to several other names this rider has been called over the years...some we could not repeat here as Blogger has a profanity filter.

Back to live action...

Vortex took over with about a kilometer or so to the line and motored up to the high 20s with about 200 meters to go and then, "Who let the dogs out?!" Everybody and his brother, sister, cousin and mother-in-law wanted a piece of that Fried Green Tomato! From my vantage point about 70 to 80 meters back as they crossed the line it looked as though the Clydesdale wannabe Gianni Bugno edged out the Young Jedi Joe Piscopo. Good fun.

We stopped at the Tom Thumb at Bauer and 98 to fill the bottles and decide which way to ride home. The Prenti, (that's both the younger and elder), and the Young Jedi decided to head straight home on 98 and the rest of us took Bauer to Gulf Beach Hwy to Navy Point. The big Vortex boy took a couple sprints. The Dub Blum Bridge Sprint (DubBB) and then the infamous Fried Twinkie Sprint. This was met with no small amount of consternation from the peloton as he had gapped the group on Gulf Beach Hwy and increased his lead even though the chase group had the hammer down. This led to an increased amount of suspicion in the peloton.

After some questioning to determine if he had stayed on course or used some Leftiest Laneiest Maximus shortcut techniques to obtain the cherished prize. He was found without guilt and the interrogators satisfied, awarded him the fried delight. Vortex, being the good natured fellow that he is, accepted it all with the grace of a Roman Emperor returning from yet another conquered enemy.

Now the dispute settled, we moved on to the next and final task...the Bayou Chico Bridge! There were no lack of contenders at the bottom as it seemed everybody wanted the last prize of the day and final bragging rights for the week. However, at the top there was only one...David "Lawman" Carroll. His victory was tainted however. Once over the bridge and in the lead of the reforming peloton, he turns right on Main Street which is totally blocked off with construction. We were all wondering what in the world the dude was doing or if perhaps somebody had spiked his water bottle. When asked what he was thinking, his response was simply, "I have to pee pee!"

That Lawman, what a character. Seems there is no end to the weekly peloton antics. But, don't fret yourself if you missed it, we'll do it again this Saturday...come on out! Check the Rides Calendar for all the details.

Hey, just as we were finishing up the ride, we had a Dave "Retro" Henderson sighting. I saw him again this afternoon. It would appear that the Retroman is getting ready for a return with a vengeance to the peloton this Spring. Perhaps, we'll see him at the first Wednesday evening Hammerfest just 3 weeks from tomorrow. Hope so!

See you out on the road,
Bob