Huge group this morning as we left from Firestone and Summit under sunny skies. Most of the regulars were in the peloton finding their place in the paceline for this moderately paced 45 miler. Several were taking short pulls on Spanish, Creighton, Olive and Johnson. Everyone was wanting some press time because the ride officials had implemented a new computer program to calculate the percentage of time each rider was pulling at the front. These numbers were to figure in heavily on who is awarded the Big Pull Bull award at the conclusion on today's ride.
Representatives of Phillips, Oliver and Matthews, (POM) the developers of this new software, were on hand to insure it's proper use as well as trouble shoot any potential problems. This new technology is called the Pull-O-Meter or POM and is absolutely cutting edge. It measures to the 1,000th of a second, the time each rider spends on the front pulling the peloton down the road. Then automatically calculates the percentage of total time as compared to the other riders that spend time at the front. (You probably saw this software in use during the recent Tour action.)
In honor of it's inaugural use in the United States the developers coupled with the ride officials have created an award worthy of the beast that wins it. This strong rider spent more time at the front pulling than any other rider during today's event. This coveted award, presented by the CEO of POM and on the behalf of the Pull-O-Meter research and development team is entitled The POM POM Trophy and comes with a cheerleading squad to ride alongside of the winner on the very next POM sponsored ride.
Here are the top 3 finishers in today's Pom Pom competition with their percentages of time at the front tugging on the F&S peloton:
3rd Place: Prentiss "The Elder Half of the Prenti" or "EHOP" Berry...............................17%
2nd Place: Tim "Crusher" Fox..................................................................................................21%
1st Place: Randy "Ranoldo" Riche.........................................................................................33%
Congratulations to Ranoldo for his first ever POM POM award!!! I'm sure he is very proud of his prize. Colorful too! In addition he also grabbed the Big Pull Bull (BPB) award! The man is a beast on bike. (BOB)
Once the award was presented however, several of the more macho riders breathed a sigh of relief that they had sucked wheel through most today's ride. "You'll never see me at the front!" one rider exclaimed under condition of anonymity. "What's he going to do with that thing, wear it? I wouldn't even hang it in my shed." However, in the post ride press conference, Ranoldo seemed delighted with the acknowledgement of his hard work. "This is one beautiful award and will take a prominent place with all my other pulling awards."
Well, for one, this rider can't be more pleased that the POM company awarded it's POM POM...to another rider! Geeez, what's next?!
How about an easy paced ride tomorrow at 3pm at Firestone and Summit! This recovery ride will be about 25 miles long and most likely we'll do some variation of the Manssiere Loop. (Home of the Bro) Look forward to seeing you there. And, as always, I'll...
See you out on the road,
Bob
WOW! I'm surprised I got 3rd for this POM POM award. I had no idea I did that much pulling; I'm really going to have to watch that next time. After all, I wouldn't want to get a reputation for excessive pulling. Great fun!
ReplyDeleteYeah that's true Prenti. I once knew a dentist who had a reputation for excessive pulling. You wouldn't want to end up with the same problem he had!
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