Sunday, try the West Florida Wheelmen ride leaving from the Bagel Heads on Gregory at 8am. Or, if not how about a afternoon jaunt with our group at 2:30pm at Firestone and Summit. The morning ride is moderate to fast and the afternoon ride has an easy to moderate pace.
Then on Memorial Day we have a ride scheduled for 7am starting at Maygarden and Summit. We are taking a ride in The Hammock! This 50 miler will have a moderate pace. Wear the colors in honor of Memorial Day!
No matter what...get out and ride!!!
Now, here's the view from the Left Lane:
We’ve had some
great rides in the past week
Saturday Ride: Great turnout even though perennial Peloton
Favorites, Vortex, Foxinator, Bugno, Danimal, and Big Motor were not in
attendance. Had around 15 riders for the
Lillian Loop including many of the usual suspects….Happy, Prenti, Retro Dave,
Bad Mayo, Woody & Carol Ann, Nestordamus, Circle K, RocDoc, Nate, The Left
Lane, Wheelmen regulars, Brett & Dave
(another Dave…must be Dave 6 or 7!!), a new rider Gary who is recovering from
running injuries on his bike and more I think…can’t remember all the rides are
starting to run together and writing this several days after the ride
challenges the Left Lane’s memory.
We had a pretty
uneventful ride out Jackson St. with a favorable wind with WheelGuys Brett and
Dave slamming it off the front then having to wait up for us Humans at the
turns. As we trekked down 98 toward
Lillian we had a group get caught by a light and most of us sitting up to wait
and Brett and Dave heading off into the
distance toward the bridge and the first stop.
Anyway the rest of us regrouped with Happy leading the way up the Bridge
with Prentis, Left Lane
and a couple of others cresting the bridge in the 20mph range. Happy slammed it going down the hill but The
Rule is if you can’t shake the Clydesdale going up the bridge he will take you
on the downhill and Left Lane nipped happy at the Alabama sign hitting
around 35mph to take the Human Division Sprint Points but of course Brett &
Dave were already on their second Newtons as the Humans rode into the break!!
The Lillian Loop
was fun as usual with the blast down the long straight with Brett & Circle
K doing most of the work. The Peloton
broke up on the Hilly section coming back to the bridge as some waited for
stragglers after the Hammerfest and we all regrouped at the Bridge and carried
on to the last break of the day a Bauer Road.
We decided to
ride straight back on 98 and it was a Hammerfest
with exploding starts…leaving Roc Doc and Circle K who got out of the break
slowly to miss the wheel and ride home together behind the peloton. We need to do something about these exploding
starts at all the stoplights when we come back this way!!! Brett did most of
the work all the way to Navy Blvd with the peloton staying together for the
most part and opting to turn in to the Country Club to slow it down and take it
easy coming home. At this time the ride
average was around 19.4 mph and I finished with around 50 miles at 18.6 after
we slowed down coming in. Great Ride as
usual. Several of us discussed riding
with the Wheelmen Sunday Morning.
Sunday Ride: Well this week
The Left Lane was on a personal quest to go over 200 miles for the week so
having 180 miles after the Saturday F&S ride I figured I would go Sunday on
the Wheelmen ride to Perdido/Innerarity.
I figured if I forced myself to get up early and go I would get my 200
miles this week unlike the week before when I needed 30 on Sunday but could
never motivate to get out on the bike.
Several riders
Saturday had said they would go as well but only Happy, Big Motor and The Left
Lane showed up. The WheelGuys had around
30 total riders show up and we headed off toward Perdido. Great ride out to Perdido with the pace
building as we got onto Gulf Beach Highway …low to mid 20’s past the Dub Blum
Bridge then building as we neared Innerarity.
Happy told me Tuesday that his Garmin said we averaged around 26.5mph
over the last 4 miles out to Innerarity.
I held on, but
was pretty toasted and knew there would be no holding onto the peloton up the Intercoastal
Bridge for the Left
Lane so I gladly headed toward Innerarity with Happy
when he turned off as well. Big Motor of
course followed the Wheelmen…I asked Keith Tuesday how his ride was the rest of
the way and he said …”well, fine as long as I had them in my sight”. Keith had lost the wheel up the bridge and
that was that and he had to ride solo until he caught back up with them at a
break.
Happy and I
trekked through Innerarity with one of the Wheelmen who dropped off to head to
his nearby home as we got back to the traffic light and Happy and I headed home
in 2 man mode…for a while. Well Happy
always pushing it hard was running in the 19-20 range into the wind and the Left
Lane was down to his 17-18mph legs and all the miles
for the week were taking their toll. So
the Left Lane
told Happy to go on and we separated and continued at our own paces. Ended up with 45 miles at 18.5 average for
the day and 225 miles for the week…mission accomplished!!
TERAD
Tuesday: Had a great turnout for the TERAD. I think this is the most fun ride every week
for the camaraderie, antics, and of course the scintillating sprint at the end
down Maygarden. We seem to have new riders
show up every week who have heard through their LBS or the Blog about this
great weekly event.
Had several new
riders this week with 3 young ladies joining for the first time….Lindsey,
Courtney, and Ashley who piped up that she was new as well….whereupon I said
no,no,no you’re not knew….remembering the HineyKicking (can I say that on the
Blog?) she had given the Peloton around a month ago on an earlier trip out
toward Lillian. She said “new to this ride”…OK.
Also Christian joined us for the first time. Usual attendees included
Fast Eddie Lawnchair and his sibling Fast Troy Lawnchair, Murphy, Hurt Burt,
Big Motor, Happy, Bad Mayo, Retro Dave, the return of Johnny Bugno, Big Hoagie,
Prentis, Lawman Dave Carroll, Nestordamus, Nate, Bryan and more.
Pace was
reasonable till halfway up the first trip on Langley whereupon here come the
Lawnchair boys blasting past the peloton like we were standing still. Man those guys are fast when they slam it
down. The rest of the boys led by Murphy
chased and reeled them in by Spanish Trail topping out in the 30mph range as
the Peloton came back together at the light.
We headed for the
Crit course with everyone playing dumb as to the course so the Left Lane went
to the front and led the group most of the way through the crit at a reasonable
pace. Nothing like last year when the
Vortex would typically take the lead and slam it through this part of the
ride. We continued across 9th
and had the usual hammerfests down the long straight and on Burgess and headed
to Langley for the second time. No
attemptted breakaways for the Left Lane this day and I joked to Big Motor Keith
that I was saving it up for the real race….the hammerfest on Scenic Highway
back to town after the Maygarden Sprint!!
Bad Mayo
requested a parade pace up to PensaCourt and dadgum if the group didn’t
abide!! But once we passed the club, who
let the Dawgs Out and the race was on with the peloton once again hitting 30mph
as we headed to Spanish. Fast Troy had a
small gap after rounding the corner and the Left Lane always looking for an
angle (a faster wheel to latch onto!!) slammed it around the corner and started
drafting the LawnChair toward Maygarden.
Figured I would hang with Troy if he tried to stay out front but he
pulled up at Maygarden even though we had at least a 100 yard gap so the Left
Lane made a lame attempt at a break for a half mile or so but wind was in the
face and was quickly reeled in by the Peloton.
Well I missed the
wheel as the group went by so the rest of my story is second hand. Finishing order I believe has it that Murphy
took the prize (as usual) with Fast Troy LawnChair second and Retro Dave and
Nestordamus a close 3rd & 4th.
Rumor has it that Newcomer Ashley
was cutoff/shunted as she contended for the prize but said that was just racing
when we talked at the end of the Wheelmen ride Wednesday as I was trying to get
the lowdown and spice up the Blog with a little controversy/rivalry!!!
Anyway it was
good to have Ashley along for the ride and the other newcomers. Now the way Ashley rides we have to come up
with an appropriate nickname for her…She can’t be and Ashley…because I remember
from when I took my daughter Kate down to start school at Florida and as we
were carrying in her stuff to her new apartment her saying something about all
of the Ashleys….apparently this was a somewhat derogatory term used to describe
all the other girls who were moving in with their perfect hair/perfect
sundresses/perfect cars etc….in a word AHLEYS!!. Anyway so I will propose She Aint No Ashley (Sheana!!). After seconds the nickname will be submitted to the
appropriate committee (The Vortex) for final determination and inclusion in the
list of F&S nicknames.
Well after the
usual braggadoccio at the end of Maygarden….the real ride began with quite a
group heading down Scenic Highway back to town.
Bryan, Big Motor, Left Lane, Big Hoagie, & Retro slammed it home
running in the 23mph range into around a 12mph wind. Everyone took turns pulling with Keith doing
2 turns including the final down the hill to the Cervantes Bridge. Well The Left Lane was feeling frisky today
and thought he had a chance to take it to the Big Motor on the uphill and
kicked it into a bigger gear and blew by the Big Motor and the others with the
crest of the hill in site thinking finally … the Left Lane would take this
prize when around 40 yards from the top here comes the Big Hoagie to spank the
Left Lane’s Butt as we neared the top!!
Oh well…one of these days!!
To get even, I
made Hoagie buy the beer and we repaired to the Front Porch of anor de Left
Lane for the after ride debriefing (Yeunglings!!).
Thanks Left Lane for the color commentary! See everyone tomorrow and throughout the weekend! And, as always I'll...
See you out on the road,
Bob
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