The weather was just about perfect, although some would have called it hot. With the lower humidity, this rider thought it was fantastic. And with the northwest wind across Garcon Point Bridge, man I was loving life. However, not everyone would agree with me. There was carnage a plenty!
The group started out from Firestone and Summit under partly sunny skies and moving along in the upper teens as we headed towards the first obstacle, The Causeway to Pace. Several of the boys were feeling frisky as we moved across, but none more than Aero Jim Britnell, who seemed to have the bit between the teeth as if we were just finishing the ride instead of starting it. He opened up his toolbox of suffering and pulled out the biggest wrench he could find to do some tweaking on the peloton's level of pain...into the high 20s. Here's where the carnage began.
Once in Pace itself, we made our way over to the second obstacle of the day, The Hamilton Bridge Road. The pace remained in the low 20s until the downhill section where it moved into the mid 30s and the high tempo carried unto the uphill portion of this day's proceedings. In fact, Circle K, Neil "Big Guns" Geci, Big Motor, Crusher and the Vortex romped and stomped up this 1 mile climb at over 20 mph! Uh, here's where more carnage became evident.
In fact just past the top of the climb but before the first of two rest stops, Harland "Happy" Williams flatted. We all waited for quite some time at the stop, but no Happy. Finally, after filling the bottles, Circle K and Vortex headed back in search of the unhappy Happy. They found him no more than 500 meters back fussing with his hand pump and his half inflated rear tire.
Here's his report in his own words:
OK, so there hanging in my closet was my blue Tour of California jersey. I hesitated when I reached for it this morning. The last time I wore it I flatted on the group ride. Nah, my rational side told me. Don’t be superstitious.
So, my day of mechanical challenges began.
First of all somewhere on the bridge to Pace the top to my water bottle abandoned the ride unbeknownst to me. On Hamilton Bridge road I had a flat. No biggie, right? I changed the tube but couldn’t get that sucker to inflate beyond about 40 pounds, bad valve I think. At the Tom Thumb I told Bob and Chip to proceed without me (the group had moved on by this time) and called for my wife to pick me up. Meanwhile I noticed my brake pad was loose so I broke out my toolkit.
Once I got home I changed the tube and the tire was good to go. So . . . I figured I would ride the reverse route and meet the group somewhere between Midway and Gulf Breeze. I rolled out onto Scenic Highway. Just before Scenic and Wimbledon my wheel began to clack with every revolution. I pulled over. Dang if I hadn’t picked up an inch long piece of 20 gauge electrical wire. It was sticking out perpendicular to the tire. Of course when I pulled it out the remainder of my air whooshed out with it. Another call to my dear wife (who was feeling like a Triple-A employee by this time) for a pickup. Yes, I could have changed it on the side of the road but I was a whopping 1 mile from home and little bit un-HAPPY at this point.
PS When I got home I fixed the tire(again) and continued to ride until I was once again. . . Happy.Sorry I missed Garcon Point Bridge. I hope everyone made it home before it got too hot.
Now, when the three (Happy, Circle K and Vortex) returned to the rest stop, they discovered the entire peloton had already departed without them for parts south. The three amigos were absolutely stunned and none said a word except Circle K, who simply uttered, "Wow!" With no Happy success and he deciding to call Mrs Happy for a lift to the Happy residence, Circle K and Vortex decided on a short cut down Glover and through the backdoor to Bagdad in hopes of catching up to the peloton. These two chasers hammered it along in the mid 20s hoping to bridge the gap by Robinson Point Road.
By the time the two had reached Avalon Blvd, they had not caught the group and determined they must now be in front of the bunch. As they reached the top of the hump on the Garcon Point Bridge, they stopped for a hard look ahead as well as behind. They could see no one in either direction and therefore reasoned that they were either way ahead or way behind the peloton. As they peered one last time behind them, they thought that maybe they could make out a rider or two more than a mile away. It wasn't until they arrived at the second rest stop and after several minutes realized that somehow they had gotten in front of the group, which was now strewn over several miles of the course.
All regrouped at the second rest stop as everyone it seemed had stories to tell of their own personal world of pain. Everyone tanked up and within a few minutes we were off for the final section of this epic ride which is the Around the Bay Loop. Right out of the gate, Big Guns took us into Anareobiaville, doing his version of a suicide pull...all the way to Andrews Institute. Beastly! (more carnage) This small group of Big Guns, Mike "Legs" Larson, Circle K, Big Motor, Vortex and Ranoldo slowed through Proper allowing several of the boys to latch back on just before the final crux of today's event...The 3 Mile Bridge. The pace stayed in the mid 20s until the hump, which caused the group to keep it in the high 20s until the Vortex flatted with just under a mile to go. Several stopped with him as some watched the motorists and others enjoyed the view.
A few minutes later they are all standing under the tree at Fish and Wildlife telling stories of one of the best rides in quite some time. Great ride with a great group of riders!
If you missed it, don't fret yourself, the WERAD is only two days away! Come on out and enjoy some suffering with the cast of unusual characters that can only be the Firestone and Summit peloton! Until then...
See you out on the road,
Bob
Vortex/CircleK,
ReplyDeleteThe group did not mean to leave you at the first rest stop. We tried to break up into two groups with those struggling a little to get out ahead and for the faster group to wait for you guys at the store. What we had here though was "a failure to communicate". As the slower group started on we looked back after a while and everyone had joined. After a while around 6 or 7 of us stopped around a half mile down the road and Fox and I went back to look for you guys. When we got back to the store only Happy was there still messing with his air pump and he told us that the wyly Vortex and Circle K had taken a short cut to try and catch up. So Fox and I turned around after Happy said his wife was coming and nailed it to get back to the group. They had started soft pedaling and we caught them in Milton and then proceeded on toward the GP Bridge. Maybe we need to get some ride radios to help out in these situations!! Anyway it was a great if somewhat painful ride.