A few housekeeping notes of interest:
1. This weekend is, of course the Independence Day Weekend. We will have rides scheduled each day starting with Giannis Bugno's The Duker Puker on Saturday. This is one of our group's favorite rides. It has has the site of Happy's Unhappy Mishap (say that 3 times fast?!) about halfway into the Puker section of the Duker Puker. Regardless, it is a great route and our Ride Captain will keep the pace manageable throughout the ride.
Sunday will see our group riding the Manzziere Loop (Home of the Bro) to a rest stop downtown. Good fun!
And finally on Monday (4th of July) we will meet at Fish and Wildlife for an easy 40 miles down the Soundside Loop! Come on somebody!
2. Next Wednesday for the WERAD we will meet the West Florida Wheelmen at WSRE Parking Lot for the WFW's version of the WERAD. We all had so much fun last Wednesday together that we thought we would give it another go. Please note they start at 5pm. If you are running a bit late, meet the peloton at Summit and Maygarden as we roll by about 5:20pm or so.
3. And speaking of last Wednesday's ride, you probably are wondering why we didn't see the cycling article in this past weekend's Pensacola News Journal. I was wondering the same thing until I received an email from Jamie Page. The answer is that it was bumped to this coming weekend. You can view it in the Life Section. I understand there are some pictures online at their website as well.
4. We have had several motorists, over the weeks, stop to complain that we are blocking the traffic on Hallmark where we stage our WERAD rides. To alleviate their consternations, tonight let's stage just around the corner on Firestone in the parking lane...under the tree. Thanks for your cooperation.
5. Many of you have asked about the Cross Florida Ride for this October. Well, I have good news. We are, in fact, going to do the ride this year! I have been meeting with Roger Grooter's widow Vicki and her family and we are finalizing the plans for the first ever Roger's Ride! More details will be available soon, however mark your calendars for Thursday October 6th through Sunday October 9th 2011!
Now, for some color commentary from the Left Lane:
We had 2 great rides this weekend.
Saturday: The group rode the Innerarity Point Loop and we had probably the largest turnout we have had in a couple of months. Most of the Usual Suspects were in attendance including Bob (The Vortex), Fox (you pick a nickname!!), Johnny (Bugno) Duke, (Lawman) Dave Carroll, Chip (Circle K Wilson, (Dave4) Mr. Dave Green,who returned for the first time in many months, also returning for the first time in months (Bad Day...more on this later) Bobby (Coolio) Cooley, also returning was the Tampa Tornado.. Count Fishbone, The Prentii, Team Cervelo...(Aero Jim) Brittnell and Chris, Randy (I'm in a Beulah State of Mind) Riche, Mark (The Big Hoagie) Calvert, Dave (The Bad Mayonaise) Mayo ....can't wait to see that nickname in the upcoming News Journal article, Nate, Rusty (The Mayor), Woody & Carol Ann, me The Left Lane and maybe some others....That's the danger of trying to list such a big group ... I probably forgot someone!!
Anyway it was a great ride with the pace being very reasonable heading out until the traditional unannounced sprint before Gulf Beach Highway which Fox took with some wyly blocking of the Vortex who was coming up quick. Relegation of the Fox was discussed but the result was allowed to stand. We cruised out toward Innerarity with the pace remaining reasonable until the short ride group headed to the Navy base Back Door Loop and the rest of us went on to Innerarity. Aero Jim Brittnell did most of the work as the pace really kicked up. We took our usual break at the light before Innerarity and I made sure the group did not leave me in the bathroom like last time we were out this way!!
The ride through Innerarity was fantastic as usual and the group was mostly together throughout. As we passed through Innerarity on the way back the pace accelerated again with Jim out front and then Lawman Dave Carroll going to the front and kicking it up a notch and a group separated itself at the front including Jim, Bob, Fox, CircleK, Lawman, Coolio, Left Lane (for a while) and maybe a couple of others. As the pace accelerated a couple miles before the Dub Blum Bridge Sprint I lost the wheel and fell back around a 1/3 of a mile or so and pulled up as Chris caught up to me. Chris and I started doing a 2 man chase with short pulls at the front in the 24-26 mph range and we got back to within around 100 yards of the lead group as we crossed the Dub Blum. Boy that Chris can really lay down the pace when he gets going. (even though he is on a 58CM bike which is much to small for his 6'6"es and would probably fit me much better!! Trade anyone??. We were close enough to see Circle K take the Dub Blum Prize. Now Bob said that the K Man won only because nobody chased because he did not want to pass Fox who was doing the hard work at the front. I am not sure if I buy Bob's excuse though cause In my personal experience I've had Bob make sure he is at least a foot or two in front of me even if we are cruising side by side at 14mph at an Unannounced Sprint Point (can you say competitive spirit??!!).
We took our final break and then headed down Gulf Beach Highway toward the Infamous Fried Twinkie Sprint which was taken by Vortex Bob with Bugno,Fox & Circle K and others chasing closely.
As we were heading home we were wondering what had happened to Coolio and Lawman Dave who had disappeared only to find out Sunday from Dave that that Coolio had taken a nail all the way through tire tube and rim. Dave said that after much patchwork they were able to get Coolio back on his bike and to ride home. I felt like I had jinxed Coolio by earlier joking that his new nickname should be "Bad Day Bobby" after overhearing him talking about a bad day on the bike. Anyway, it was good to have Coolio back for the first time in several months. Hopefully he will get a new set of rims real soon and rejoin the peloton...you know that Coolio will not ride unless his fastidiously maintained machine is in impeccable condition!!!
Rest of the ride home was pretty uneventful with a certain Left Lane trying a mini breakaway through the Country Club to possibly get over the Barrancas Bridge first. He was quickly joined by Jim and The Count of Fishbone as we headed down Country Club Road. With only a 200 yard gap on the peloton the break was futile so Left Lane having no climbing legs left took the short cut out to Barrancas so as to not have to chase the mountain goats up the bridge.
Group kind of broke up over the Bridge and we rolled in at Richey's in various intervals until everyone was accounted for. It was only a short hop to my house on Gadsden for the traditional 10 AM beer bash on my front porch attended by the usual suspects... Mark The Big Hoagie and Johnny Bugno. As usual Johnny said he would have 1 then ride back up to the F&S area but with a little arm twisting (very little) that became 2 or 3 and Mark who parks his truck at my house before rides from F&W gave The Bugno a ride home!!.
Great ride and of course then around a 2 hour nap!! See you guys on the road soon.
Uh...ditto,
Bob
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