Since I was "out of pocket" the last few days, as indicated in the blogification below, the Left Lane has taken it upon himself to offer his unique view...from the Left Lane, of this past WERAD.
That Left Lane, you gotta love him...not!
Here's his color commentary:
Seeing as you have shucked your Bloginator responsibilities while you "wasted away in Margaritaville", I figured I would offer up a commentary on this weeks WERAD as best I can remember it.
Great WERAD as usual. Not a huge turnout but many of the usual suspects. Attendees included Bob (Vortex), Richard (Left Lane/Me) Mark (The Thrill) Brill, Prenti the Older, Chuck (The Bad Half/Gramps), Isthvan (The Count of Monte Fishbone), Mark (The Big Hoagie) Calvert, Keith (The Big Motor), Nathan (The Nathan Bomb), David (The Bad Mayonnaise), Half Ride Dave Carroll (Lawman), Chris Huffman (The Real Lawman), Nestor (no nickname yet and fairly new to the group...Nestor was the only rider other than myself who showed up for Tuesday's ride.. he rode really well that day and I was able to convince him to come out and WERAD with the boys. Hope I got everyone..If I didn't..Live with It!!
We did our usual loop with Prenti doing most of the work early and keeping the pace fairly reasonable. On our first pass up Langley the pace kicked up as usual as we cruised through the park area noting the Traffic Enhancements had been removed (so I guess cyclists do have a little pull around here!!!). We were doing over 20 here and then up in the upper 20's as we hit Spanish Trail and headed for the Crit. Vortex took the lead through the Crit as usual with Left Lane on his wheel (What a Clydesdale Draft/Vortex for the others to follow) and put down a hot pace all the way through the course with Left Lane scooting around Vortex & Fishbone (who seemed disinterested), to get to Spanish Trail first (I have to get my sprint points where I can knowing I will get stomped on the final sprint!!)
We had the usual Hammerfests on the long straits on the other side of 9th Avenue and Burgess where we were cruising behind the Vortex in the upper 20's when we came to a quick slowdown as we saw a new stop sign with the Word "NEW" above it (stopping Burgess traffic!!) about halfway down the long straight. What a crazy place for a stop sign!! We rolled through at a slowed down pace and continued on our way grumbling about those damn traffic engineers who need to find something better to do than clog up our favorite straights!!...I guess its better than speed bumps!!!
Vortex and Left Lane got a little ahead of the group as we reached 9th Avenue perhaps planning a 2 man break but the lights were not favorable and everyone was together with the exception of the Bad Mayonnaise who we could see up ahead playing rabbit as we sat at the light. Half Ride Dave Carroll who got a late start joined us at the light as well. Well Dave went to the front as we started up Langley and put the hammer down as usual. We were in the mid 20's as we finished the slight uphill near the park and just accelerated from there. Dave was leading with Vortex, Big Motor Keith, Left Lane and Bad Half Chuck in the lead group with the others missing the wheel. Vortex took over as we headed to Spanish in the 30 mph range. As we turned onto Spanish he pulled over and incited us to send someone to the front to keep our small group ahead of the others, but we were all a bunch of toasted "Refusers". So the pace slowed down and the rest of the riders rejoined as we started down Maygarden.
I think Dave Carroll did the first pull with Mark The Thrill doing a short pull thereafter as we headed toward the Air Terminal gobbling up rabbit Dave in the process. As usual the selfless Big Motor Keith went to the front to do the "suicide pull" toward the finish. Pace was up over 25mph as we went through the Esses with the Big Motor Cranking it out. Around 400 yards from the finish, Left Lane broke to the front for the lead out and kicked it up into the upper 20's leading for a couple 100 yards just waiting to get stomped by the big sprinters. Sure enough around 100 yards from the finish here comes the Vortex (with that big gear up in the mid 30's) blowing by me. I sat up and just watched as Bad Half Chuck & The Thrill went by for 2nd & 3rd as well with Left Lane taking 4th and then the others rolling in. I guess I will have to get one of those little concealed motors from Coolio if I ever want to prevail on the final Maygarden Sprint!!
Anyway it was a great ride and we had a nice group slamming it down Scenic Highway as well to finish up the ride.
See everyone on the road Saturday morning. Rumor (and the Weather Channel) has it that the Gargoyle Point Bridge will be defanged on the Around the Bay ride...Wind out of the Northwest .. thank goodness!! Old Clydesdales with bad knees (ME) have been known to struggle into the usual 15mph headwind on this bridge.
The Left Lane
Thanks for the write up Left Lane!!! See you and everyone else tomorrow morning for the fabulous Around The Bay Loop! As always there should be plenty of peloton antics to go around for all...from the cast of unusual characters which is the Firestone and Summit Group!
Until then...
See you out on the road,
Bob
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