Fabulous weekend! I cannot remember when we had such a wonderful combination of great weather, great groups and great routes all packed into two days of riding. Wasn't Sunday's Full Moon ride delightful? I mean the whole experience was just about perfect. This monthly ride is quickly becoming a classic. And, you could just about say the same for the Twisted Lillian Loop. I like that extra few miles we threw in just before our rest stop...beautiful road! I think this route and the Around the Bay Loop are probably my personal favorites. Although, I do love The Hammock and The Duker Puker...and the Three Amigos is fun, uh Pine Forest is, well...
I guess we have several really great loops. Although they may be equal, none better than this past Saturday's Twisted Lillian. We headed out from Fish and Wildlife under sunny skies and a very casual pace. It would seem that the peloton had weary legs from the first Hammerfest a few days before. We pretty much just cruised down Jackson and Lillian Hwy before making the right hander onto Hwy 98 where the pace increased in earnest.
As we approached the Lillian Bridge, the Big Motor that is Keith Irwin went to the front and cranked it up to around 23-24mph. He maintained this over the hump and as we headed toward the sprint sign at the west end of the bridge, Left Lane put in an acceleration which won him the sprint but he ultimately paid the price as he had difficulty staying with the group on the "new road" which is the "Twisted" part of the Lillian Loop. Several of the peloton mentioned what a beautiful addition this was to our usual route. I think it will become a permanent addition.
At the rest stop we had the wonderful pleasure of meeting some of our cycling brethren who call themselves The Pensacola Freewheelers. This delightful group of mature and more experienced riders was a real joy to get to know. We determined to try and put together a ride with them soon. They were, in fact, doing a loop around Lillian but our route took us a different way than theirs so off we went heading west. We turned north into a surprising headwind that kept the peloton in a tight paceline. This continued as we turned west which saw the eschelon across the entire road. However, once we made the turn south it was The Tailwind Express!
Tim "Crusher" Fox had the nose as we were cruising in the low to mid 20s. However, he had no lack of consternation as guys would pass him increasing the pace for a couple hundred yards then pull off gasping for air. After several of these attempts, Crusher motions to his fellow Clydesdale, the big Vortex boy to put the hammer down. He rolls it up to just under 30mph for a couple of miles then pulls off allowing another to pull. However, when he looks back, there's only Crusher, Josh "Danger" Sharpe and the Elder Half of The Prenti. (EHOP) Uh, not to be confused with an international pancake joint that is famous for something called "Pigs in a Blanket".
We all regrouped at the left hand turn that takes us back towards Lillian itself...or would that be herself? Anyway the pace was around 20mph or so all the way to within a kilometer or so of the Lillian sprint sign. Crusher, who evidently still had plenty of adrenalin is his veins from his consternation, won the sprint easily in front of Gianni Bugno who took second. Thus confirming the rumor that Gianni is trying to increase his point total towards regaining the coveted Sprint Leader's Jersey back from The Vortex who placed third in the sprint.
The rest of the ride was uneventful with the exception of some Bad Mayonnaise flatting and we taking a small detour looking for a cure for his deflated issue. (That's detour for cure...not tour de cure. I'm just saying.) After trying a couple of options including a shot a sliming, it was determined that his puncture was permanent and we left him for road kill in front of Bikes Plus. A heartfelt thanks to Robbie for helping our Bad Mayonnaise! Great ride! I had 60 miles as I was pulling into the garage.
Sunday's Super Full Moon Ride was awesome! Even if the moon was a bit late in arriving. There were several new faces including Mike Louy's daughter Kathryn and Fishbone's son, Fishbone Jr. (Matt) not to mention several of our lovely Mrses. (Uh, anybody know how to spell Mrs plural?) Anyway, The Mayor and his wife, RocDoc and his wife, Chris Huffman and his wife, Woodrow and Carol Ann, (several times the SheBeast Award winner) and I know I am forgetting somebody...my apologies. We kept picking up folks all the way out to Fort Pickens. On the way back, Chris "TT" Johnson pulled the lead group along at 25mph. Come on somebody!
We also had a motorcycle escort the whole way there and back, provided by my dad, Bob Graves, Sr. Good fun! When we arrived back at Casino Beach the moon finally made it's debut. Man, was it beautiful over an absolute calm Gulf under the clearest skies. Gorgeous!
If you missed it, sorry you missed that one. However, it's early in the season, so there will be plenty more to come! In fact, tonight, tomorrow and Thursday. And of course, this Saturday's big Rite of Spring Ride: All the Way Around the Bay!!! For all the details check out the Rides Calendar at the bottom of this Blogification. And, I'll...
See you out on the road,
Bob
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