Left Lane Does It Again!

Well, I'm back in the saddle again...

Yep, back from my tour around the country. I flew out to Phoenix, drove to the Grand Canyon. Then on to Sedona, (there's a sign on their main street stating, "Home of the Crystal Vortex". No kidding! Must be a distant cousin of the Vortex or something?!), back to Phoenix. Flew to Atlanta, drove to Greenville, SC and then on to Columbus, GA and finally back to Pensacola. Man, I'm tired just writing all that. All told, 9 days and some 4,200+ miles. Average speed was 380+/-mph...but who's counting?! Great trip, but apparently not as good as last Saturday's romp to Lillian...according to the Left Lane who was kind enough to send me his color commentary of the day's events. Here 'tis:

We had a really good turnout for the Saturday Ride this past weekend. We had 15 to 20 riders in all with 8 riders going the full route and the rest taking the shorter route. Seems like the 2 route structure for our Saturday rides is paying off in higher attendance so that those who do not want to suffer through the Hammerfests can ride at a more reasonable pace.

Going the full ride were Circle K, The Prentii (2 Prentises), Happy Harlan, Retro Dave, Tim The Foxinator (interesting, when I did the spellcheck one suggestion to replace Foxinator was Fumigator…a new nickname??) Fox, Seattle Brian, and me, The Left Lane. Choosing the shorter route and heading back at the turn from Lillian to the Perdido Bridge, were David The Bad Mayonnaise Mayo, David Lawman Carroll, Rusty The Mayor Rood, Keith The Big Motor Irwin, Chuck & “Big Meal” Sandy( who had to quit the Wednesday ride last week due to too much dinner!!), and Woody & Carol Ann. I know we had a few more riders but can’t remember everyone. Of note, as we queued up at the start Fox’s profile made him appear as if he had DunLapped over the back with an overlarge jersey stretching downward from the weight of the vast stores he had packed for the ride!! As Fox always says, “You got to feed the Machine.”

The entire group stayed together as we noodled through town and then headed for Jackson Street. Pace kicked up as usual on Jackson once we crossed New Warrington Road and then on Lillian highway as we skirted Perdido bay. Pace was reasonable however, with The Prentii doing most of the work, one of whom showed up on a “Flaming Pink” bike. I will let you guess which one!! As we neared the Bridge with the traditional Unannounced Sprint (UAS) to the break at the store in Alabama younger Prentis was out front doing a reasonable 22-23 mph when flashing by came CircleK, Retro Dave, Fox and then Harlan, setting a blistering pace up the Bridge. Prentis kicked it in and chased them back down, however Circle K took the UAS trophy.

After our break at the store we did the traditional loop through the countryside savoring the aroma of Fresh Cowpies (is that the Alabama State Flower??). This section included much hammerfesting with the group staying together until the hilly section as we headed back to the bridge where Seattle Brian & Left Lane cracked off the back when Retro went to the front and put down a short but fast pull (not sure what the point of that was??). Brian and I did a two man chase and kept the peloton within reasonable range and we rejoined the group which waited for us at the pull off area before the bridge. I was pretty worn out by this time so I slammed it past the waiting group up the Bridge so that I could get a breather on the downhill. Of course the Prenti on the Pink bike just had to chase me down and pass me as I reached the top. Maybe one day I will get to the top of a climb first….Notttttt!!! Prentis then slowed a little going down and I slammed the big gear and passed him momentarily. Prentis hates it when the 56 year old fat guy with bad knees passes him though and he put it back down and passed me again. I grabbed his wheel for a while but had to drop off and rejoin the peloton as we headed to the next break at Bauer Road.

It was a very hot humid day so we decided to take 98 home rather than going down Bauer to Gulf Beach Highway. Oh well, no Fried Twinkie Sprint today!! The ride down 98 was pretty much a hammerfest with young Prentii doing most of the work again. Seems like we got stopped at every light along the way. Prenti burned it out at every restart up to 25mph or so and the stopping and going was starting to take a toll on the older legs in the peloton (mine) so I had to start timing the lights to get a jump to keep from getting dropped on the restarts!! We all stayed together until the viaduct on Garden Street when the climbers once again dropped Seattle Brian and me but the lights and some Somewhat Sketchy Road Manners let us get back up as we headed through town and to what is my finish point at 14^th and Gregory (can you say Liquor Store!). Actually, I was too worn out to have my usual after ride beers plus my usual drinking buddies, Johnny Bugno and The Big Hoagie took the day off!! So I crept up the 14^th Avenue Hill home as the rest of the group headed back to the Firestone & Summit area.

Great Ride of around 55 miles for me at an average speed of just over 17mph (including noodles).

Uh...not sure what "noodles" means, (isn't that on the menu at the Road Kill Cafe? Or was that Poodles with Noodles?), regardless, thanks for the report Left Lane!

Don't forget, (as if you could) tonight's WERAD! The word on the street is to expect one of our biggest groups to date. As always, we will have the two group format, with one group doing the slightly longer route. (Crit Loop) The shorter route will be the group fave Super 8 Loop. Both groups will come back together just in time for things to get cranked up along Langley, Spanish and Maygarden. Who will walk, (ride) away with the weekly bragging rights? The Red Big Bull Pull Jersey and the Green Sprint Jersey are both up for grabs this evening! (I just love this kind of stuff!)

Also, check out the Rides Calendar at the bottom of this Blogification for all the details on upcoming rides...like this Saturday! Come on somebody! Until then, I'll...

See you out on the road,
Bob