Really looking forward to the ride in the morning. It seems it's been so long since we have had a Saturday morning ride that wasn't cold, windy or both. Tomorrow should be none of the above! Uh...with the exception of course of the infamous Gargoyle Point Bridge crossing. Seems the day can be as calm and quiet and you hit that bridge and it's blowing a gale...and always a headwind. Even if that's the case for the morning, that should be the only difficulty for the day's proceedings. Oh yeah baby, it's going to be epic!
And speaking of epic; anyone enjoy the TERAD the other night?! What a fantastic frisky ride. In fact, the Left Lane, (who himself was a marked man) sent in a bit of color commentary for your Friday morning reading enjoyment. So, heeeeere's Left Lane:
Great ride Tuesday night.
With Hoagie edging out the field I felt Like there had to be a write up.
The HOAGIE by a FOOTLONG (or 11 1/4")!!!
An awesome TERAD this week with a surprise winner. Great
turnout with most of the usual Couc's and some new faces as well. This was a TERAD that I (The Left Lane)
almost missed....you see I had to pick up my Mom at the airport around 4:00 and
of course the airline lost her bag so getting her home to the beach and back
for the ride up to S&M (can I say that??) was going to be a close
call. In fact I dropped her off on
P'Beach around 5:00 and just had to drive home to East Hill, get dressed, fill
my bottles, and be 4.5 miles down the road by 5:30...Impossible you say???
Not!!!
I was not going to miss this TERAD for anything
especially as I lamented after sighting the long missing, from the Peloton,
"Big Motor" Keith Irwin riding a kids bike in business casual on the
beach and missing another TERAD...I guess I can make an exception to my lament
because it looked like he was heading in the direction of the SandShaker for a
Pint!! Its not the same without the Big Motor to chase down Scenic Highway each
Tuesday after the TERAD.
Speaking of "not the same", another local
cycling favorite Johnny "Bugno" Dukes will be leaving us soon to head
for a new opportunity in Monterrey California. The Peloton will not be the same
without JB who has been a regular for many years and regularly joined me and
Nestordamus and Happy on the wintertime LLEMUR rides as well as joining me and
the Hoagie on my front porch for after ride beers. He will be missed!!
The Ride:
The weather was perfect for riding... in the 70's with
around 10mph SE wind. Not many antics
early on with Left Lane, Prenti, Tom and The Rocket doing most of the early
work. Hoagie did most of the pull on the
long straight before Creighton. As we crossed Creighton none other than Johnny
Bugno snuck by a slumbering peloton to take the "unannounced" sprint
points.
As we crossed into the park the Left Lane toyed with a
breakaway but with no help and realizing that "resistance is
futile", sat up and was reeled in
by Murphy and the peloton around halfway down Burgess....Oh well.
So the peloton was all together at the light on 9th
avenue as we headed into the wind and by the runway with the Brizzard Boys
opening up a little gap at first then the peloton rejoining. Johnny B Sr. (good to see he has recovered
from his recent accident) pulled the group most of the way to Spanish with Left
Lane finishing the leg and then Hoagie pulling us up Spanish toward Maygarden
with a closely packed peloton jockeying for position...I felt like I was at
Bristol in a NASCAR race as Johnny Rocket locked me in until I took the right
line past the leaders as we neared Maygarden then Rocket & Coolio pinching
me in as we turned onto Maygarden. If we
would have had fenders they would have been abangin!!! Good Stuff!!
The pace had been pretty quick the whole ride and
thankfully there was not the usual explosion of speed by "The
Professionals" on Maygarden and most of the peloton was all together as we
headed toward the Air Terminal with
Hoagie doing most of the work. As we
passed through the Esses the whole group was still together with the lead going
back and forth until around 400 yards from the finish, and the Sprint was On.
No sprinter I, I sat up and watched the end of the ride
from around 30 yards back and I believe the Hoagie took the checkered flag by a
FootLong (that's 11 ¼" in Subway measurement) with a host of Couc's
nipping at his wheel!!!
As we talked later over Yuenglings, Hoagie said he was
surprised that the usual hammerheads did not edge him out ...but I was not
surprised ...Hoagie had been rounding into shape and with the go faster
finishing equipment touches....a new Black Giro wind tunnel tested helmet and
the set of Conti 4000S GP tires with Chilis Negros which I had given him last
week the outcome made sense. Hoagie said
"Nahhh, those guys must not have been trying". I said, "Shut up and have another
beer"!!
The Left Lane
The official final standings after much peering over the photo finish photos:
Gold: The Big Hoagie (by a Footlong)
Silver: Nestordamus aka: Nestor the Molestor
Bronze: The Vortex*
* It is rumored The Vortex was aided by the controversial Rockets Propelled Assist (RPA) at about 400 meters from the line. Rarely seen in professional races of the likes of Paris-Roubaix or the TERAD, it is strictly in violation of The Code. Although there is no photographic verification, there were more than one eyewitness to the fact. No formal complaint was actually lodged against The Vortex as this was the first time on the podium for him since the Crusher ran over him in the Terrible Full Moon Crash. And since The Vortex did not solicit the Johnny Rockets propulsion, the decision was made to let The Vortex retain the third place medal. A decision that delighted the fans!
See you out on the road,
Bob
