We are taking a ride on the Full Moon Express tonight! I really had my doubts earlier today as to whether we would be riding tonight or not. The skies looked threatening all day with a high percentage of rain possible, if not a short shower. However, as I peek out the back window of the palatial Graves estate looking south from the mountaintop (hilltop) here on the Bayou called Texar, I see the clouds breaking up and some gorgeous sunshine brightening the possibilities for a perfect ride on the white sand beaches tonight! Come on somebody!
Just a couple of notes regarding tonight's ride:
1. Please try to be on time as we will need to leave as close to 7:30pm as possible. The sun sets just shy of 8pm and the moon rises at 8:11pm...timing is everything! Don't forget your lights!
2. Remember to bring an extra $3 to get into the National Park. We usually have enough Annual Pass holders to get everyone in "free" but we never know exactly how many folks may be riding on any given ride so we may not have enough pass holders...enough said.
Now, how about that ride tomorrow morning?!
Well, from a ride on the Orient Express...oops, uh, I mean, the Full Moon Express tonight to a trip on the Pine Forest Loop Line tomorrow! Man, I just love this kind of stuff!
Yes, tomorrow morning we will leave the Firestone and Summit Station at 7am for a moderate paced ride on the group fave Pine Forest Loop! We will have both groups together for this 40 to 45 miler. Good fun! And for the boys who are feeling a bit frisky, we'll throw in a couple of sprints just to keep folks from falling asleep at the wheel. One rest stop is planned to fill the bottles and tell stories. This would be a great ride to invite a friend that has wanted to come out but is intimated by some of the names of the riders...i.e. Crusher, Big Motor, Danger and of course, that Bad Mayonnaise!
For those of you that care, I'm sure we will be home in time to see all the attacks on the final climb on tomorrow's stage of Le Tour de France!
Sunday, we'll do an easy paced ride on the UWF/Scenic Hills loop...minus a couple of the hills. This ride starts at 3pm at Firestone and Summit. Not quite a recovery ride, but we won't be hammering either.
Hope to see everyone out tonight and/or this weekend and as always, I'll...
See you out on the road,
Bob
Friday, July 15, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
A Short Note Regarding This Week's Rides
Sorry for the lack of color commentary this week, I have been very busy with other pressing matters. However, I did want to get out a ride announcement or two before tonight's WERAD! So here goes;
Tonight at 5:30pm at Firestone and Summit we will be doing our imitation of Le Tour de France, (just like every other club in the world during the month of July!) Looks like the rain will hold off and should be a massive crowd. (Using my Phil Liggett accent here.) Can't wait to see everyone!
Also, this Friday is our group fave Full Moon Ride at Casino Beach Parking lot at 7:30pm.
And finally, this Saturday we are going back for a ride on the Pine Forest Loop Express! Come on somebody!
Again, sorry about the short note...I'll make it up to you later with some obnoxious, verbose ramblings about how Left Lane lost the latest meaningless fried somethingarather unannounced acceleration he calls a sprint! (I just love that kind of stuff!!!) However, I have lots of news to share so I will Blogulate real soon to catch everyone up to date...Stay tuned!!!
See you tonight at 5:30pm and...
See you out on the road,
Bob
PS Sorry Left Lane.
Tonight at 5:30pm at Firestone and Summit we will be doing our imitation of Le Tour de France, (just like every other club in the world during the month of July!) Looks like the rain will hold off and should be a massive crowd. (Using my Phil Liggett accent here.) Can't wait to see everyone!
Also, this Friday is our group fave Full Moon Ride at Casino Beach Parking lot at 7:30pm.
And finally, this Saturday we are going back for a ride on the Pine Forest Loop Express! Come on somebody!
Again, sorry about the short note...I'll make it up to you later with some obnoxious, verbose ramblings about how Left Lane lost the latest meaningless fried somethingarather unannounced acceleration he calls a sprint! (I just love that kind of stuff!!!) However, I have lots of news to share so I will Blogulate real soon to catch everyone up to date...Stay tuned!!!
See you tonight at 5:30pm and...
See you out on the road,
Bob
PS Sorry Left Lane.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Yellow Jersey...on Maygarden?!
Great rides this past week! The WERAD was epic (Not!) if not very fast. Several of the riders were feeling their oats as the pace rarely dropped below 20mph for anything except a stoplight. Come on somebody! At times, it was well into the upper 20s! Why such a hammerfest? What was the special occasion? Apparently, the color yellow. Yep, that goofball Vortex showed up in an official (uh, unofficial, although it was purchased on the Champs Elysee' in Paris by his daughter several years ago. He just now has lost enough weight to where he can actually wear it.), Yellow Jersey. Who does he think he is anyway, Thor Hushovd? Please!
However, it must have inspired several of the riders who kept the pace bordering ballistic as we cruised the loop known only as the Super 8. Neil "Big Guns" Geci, Mike "Legs" Larson and YHOP (Younger Half Of Prenti) took turns at the front keeping the peloton strung out. On the final pass down Langley the speed approached 30mph...animals! Once onto Maygarden, Big Guns took a short pull at speed and relinquished to the big Clydesdale boy, Tim "Crusher" Fox. He pulled all the way until young Jedi YHOP took a flyer with 800 meters to go. However, Crusher, grinding out a huge gear reeled him back in with about 500m to the line. The Yellow Jersey took a lame pull feigning exhaustion. (O Brother Where Art Thou?)
Nate the Great tried a turn at the front but Legs Larson would have none of it. He was determined to launch the Big Guns missile to the line. Legs cranked it up until with 200m left he gave up the ghost and the missile was launched! Big Guns had the line in sight, when out of nowhere comes the Yellow Jersey riding like he was on the Champs Elysee' itself on the final stage of the Tour...WHAAAT?! With 50m left in this WERAD, the Yellow Jersey passes Big Guns for the victory.
However, the result evidently did not please several fans who were seen yawning and some were even crying out, "Boring!" Although, it sounded more like booing! Like the Yellow Jersey was being booed. Upon hearing the shouts of the crowds and perceiving how jealous they are regarding the jersey of yellow, the Vortex was overheard vowing to never again don the Maillot Juene on a WERAD, stating, "They sure are a fickle lot, the fans." He will settle for the color green.
Hats off to several Big Pull Bulls (BPBers) including Big Guns, YHOP, Crusher and Big Motor! Congrats to all!
If you missed the antics of this past week, don't fret there's more to come this weekend...in fact, check out the ride tomorrow! We are heading to one of the group's all time faves; The Lillian Loop! This 50 miler starts at Fish and Wildlife at 7am and should be back home by around 10:30am. The pace will be moderate so come on out and enjoy some riding with the cast of unusual characters! See you in the morning and as always, I'll...
See you out on the road,
Bob
However, it must have inspired several of the riders who kept the pace bordering ballistic as we cruised the loop known only as the Super 8. Neil "Big Guns" Geci, Mike "Legs" Larson and YHOP (Younger Half Of Prenti) took turns at the front keeping the peloton strung out. On the final pass down Langley the speed approached 30mph...animals! Once onto Maygarden, Big Guns took a short pull at speed and relinquished to the big Clydesdale boy, Tim "Crusher" Fox. He pulled all the way until young Jedi YHOP took a flyer with 800 meters to go. However, Crusher, grinding out a huge gear reeled him back in with about 500m to the line. The Yellow Jersey took a lame pull feigning exhaustion. (O Brother Where Art Thou?)
Nate the Great tried a turn at the front but Legs Larson would have none of it. He was determined to launch the Big Guns missile to the line. Legs cranked it up until with 200m left he gave up the ghost and the missile was launched! Big Guns had the line in sight, when out of nowhere comes the Yellow Jersey riding like he was on the Champs Elysee' itself on the final stage of the Tour...WHAAAT?! With 50m left in this WERAD, the Yellow Jersey passes Big Guns for the victory.
However, the result evidently did not please several fans who were seen yawning and some were even crying out, "Boring!" Although, it sounded more like booing! Like the Yellow Jersey was being booed. Upon hearing the shouts of the crowds and perceiving how jealous they are regarding the jersey of yellow, the Vortex was overheard vowing to never again don the Maillot Juene on a WERAD, stating, "They sure are a fickle lot, the fans." He will settle for the color green.
Hats off to several Big Pull Bulls (BPBers) including Big Guns, YHOP, Crusher and Big Motor! Congrats to all!
If you missed the antics of this past week, don't fret there's more to come this weekend...in fact, check out the ride tomorrow! We are heading to one of the group's all time faves; The Lillian Loop! This 50 miler starts at Fish and Wildlife at 7am and should be back home by around 10:30am. The pace will be moderate so come on out and enjoy some riding with the cast of unusual characters! See you in the morning and as always, I'll...
See you out on the road,
Bob
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
What a Fantastic Weekend of Riding...and a WERAD Note!
For those of you that rode this past weekend, I'm sure you would agree it was three great rides! Saturday was the infamous Gianni Bugno's The Duker Puker. Sunday had the group on a spin around the Manzierre Loop: Home of the Bro. While Monday saw the peloton cruising on the group fave Soundside Loop. Three great days worth of three great rides! I, for one, really enjoyed all three routes. (Who picks these things anyway?!)
WERAD NOTE:
Hey, before I go any further, please note that after discussing tomorrow's UNIRAD with the West Florida Wheelmen, we have decided to postpone our joint group ride with them for a bit. Several of you have expressed that you would not be able to participate because of the earlier start time of 5pm. We will reschedule for sometime in the future with more advance notice so many of you can plan ahead for the earlier start.
Therefore, we will be at Firestone and Summit tomorrow night at 5:30pm for our usual WERAD with our cast of unusual characters!!! (Check the Rides Calendar for details as needed.)
Now to live action...
Huge group last Saturday with several folks we haven't seen in a while...at least not on a bike. We don't name names here but it sure was nice to see Chuck and Sandy Norton out! They are a few of the riders that make it so much fun to get out and ride in this otherwise miserable weather. Well, it wasn't that terrible, just humid I guess...and hot. You know when the sweat doesn't evaporate off your overheating body...yeah it was miserable, to a degree anyway. Regardless, it was a fantastic ride over one of this riders favorite courses. And, to top it all off, no Puker this time around on the Duker! Amazing!
The ride was pretty much uneventful until we hit the last 3 kilometers or so. (Gratefully no Happy Unhappy Mishap or HUM) The pace had quickened a bit as we rode down Langley and made the turn onto Spanish. Most everybody was feeling a bit worse for the wear as we made the final right hander onto Maygarden itself. There had been several albeit short pulls until Earl "Semper Cy" Page took over the duties at the front. (Earl is not related to the Pensacola News Journal writer Jamie Page, who wrote that wonderful article in last Sunday's Coastal Life section regarding cycling in our area. If you haven't read it yet, check it out! Very informative and complimentary of our group and the WFW as well. Really enjoyed it. Thanks so much Jamie!!!)
Back to live action...
Semper Cy pulled from about 2k to go all the way up to the final sprint. The man had the bit between the teeth. However, as his suicide pull was about out of fuel around the 400 meters to go sign, out of nowhere comes charging down the left side like the big Clydesdale that he is, Tim "Crusher" Fox out of the saddle with head down throwing his machine like a dog pulling on a chew toy! Lawman jumps hard to get on Crusher's wheel with the Vortex trying to latch onto the Lawman. With less than 300m to the line, (this after a hot 50+ miles in the saddle) Lawman moves to the right to launch his sprint. He and Crusher are heads down and eyes blurred surging for the line. (I just love this kind of stuff!) Lawman gets the advantage on Crusher with less than 100m to go and eases up on the pedals. Just then, out of nowhere on the extreme right comes the Vortex in a massive gear. With less than 50m they are even and at the line, Vortex nips Lawman by no more than half a bike length. Fantastic finish...and good fun!
Sunday's classic route looking for the Home of the Bro saw a much smaller peloton including a couple of group favorite's Trish "The Kat" Kuhnell and Gianni Bugno as well as a couple of new faces Tom Horn and Nestor Arquea. The ride was taken at an easy pace with our usual stop at the end of Palafox to take in the view and fill the bottles. Great recovery ride.
The Soundside Loop was on tap for yesterday's ride. We had a good group of fairly evenly matched riders, so the pace was fast. (18.3mph average) In fact, I was home before 10am! Great ride and pretty much uneventful except for Semper Cy taking the rest stop sprint. Atta boy Earl!
Fantastic weekend of riding! I had over 130 miles. Don't worry if you missed them. We're riding again tomorrow night. Yeppers, 5:30pm at Firestone and Summit for the weekly WERAD! Come on out and don't miss a single mile of the latest peloton antics! See you tomorrow night. And, as always, I'll...
See you out on the road,
Bob
WERAD NOTE:
Hey, before I go any further, please note that after discussing tomorrow's UNIRAD with the West Florida Wheelmen, we have decided to postpone our joint group ride with them for a bit. Several of you have expressed that you would not be able to participate because of the earlier start time of 5pm. We will reschedule for sometime in the future with more advance notice so many of you can plan ahead for the earlier start.
Therefore, we will be at Firestone and Summit tomorrow night at 5:30pm for our usual WERAD with our cast of unusual characters!!! (Check the Rides Calendar for details as needed.)
Now to live action...
Huge group last Saturday with several folks we haven't seen in a while...at least not on a bike. We don't name names here but it sure was nice to see Chuck and Sandy Norton out! They are a few of the riders that make it so much fun to get out and ride in this otherwise miserable weather. Well, it wasn't that terrible, just humid I guess...and hot. You know when the sweat doesn't evaporate off your overheating body...yeah it was miserable, to a degree anyway. Regardless, it was a fantastic ride over one of this riders favorite courses. And, to top it all off, no Puker this time around on the Duker! Amazing!
The ride was pretty much uneventful until we hit the last 3 kilometers or so. (Gratefully no Happy Unhappy Mishap or HUM) The pace had quickened a bit as we rode down Langley and made the turn onto Spanish. Most everybody was feeling a bit worse for the wear as we made the final right hander onto Maygarden itself. There had been several albeit short pulls until Earl "Semper Cy" Page took over the duties at the front. (Earl is not related to the Pensacola News Journal writer Jamie Page, who wrote that wonderful article in last Sunday's Coastal Life section regarding cycling in our area. If you haven't read it yet, check it out! Very informative and complimentary of our group and the WFW as well. Really enjoyed it. Thanks so much Jamie!!!)
Back to live action...
Semper Cy pulled from about 2k to go all the way up to the final sprint. The man had the bit between the teeth. However, as his suicide pull was about out of fuel around the 400 meters to go sign, out of nowhere comes charging down the left side like the big Clydesdale that he is, Tim "Crusher" Fox out of the saddle with head down throwing his machine like a dog pulling on a chew toy! Lawman jumps hard to get on Crusher's wheel with the Vortex trying to latch onto the Lawman. With less than 300m to the line, (this after a hot 50+ miles in the saddle) Lawman moves to the right to launch his sprint. He and Crusher are heads down and eyes blurred surging for the line. (I just love this kind of stuff!) Lawman gets the advantage on Crusher with less than 100m to go and eases up on the pedals. Just then, out of nowhere on the extreme right comes the Vortex in a massive gear. With less than 50m they are even and at the line, Vortex nips Lawman by no more than half a bike length. Fantastic finish...and good fun!
Sunday's classic route looking for the Home of the Bro saw a much smaller peloton including a couple of group favorite's Trish "The Kat" Kuhnell and Gianni Bugno as well as a couple of new faces Tom Horn and Nestor Arquea. The ride was taken at an easy pace with our usual stop at the end of Palafox to take in the view and fill the bottles. Great recovery ride.
The Soundside Loop was on tap for yesterday's ride. We had a good group of fairly evenly matched riders, so the pace was fast. (18.3mph average) In fact, I was home before 10am! Great ride and pretty much uneventful except for Semper Cy taking the rest stop sprint. Atta boy Earl!
Fantastic weekend of riding! I had over 130 miles. Don't worry if you missed them. We're riding again tomorrow night. Yeppers, 5:30pm at Firestone and Summit for the weekly WERAD! Come on out and don't miss a single mile of the latest peloton antics! See you tomorrow night. And, as always, I'll...
See you out on the road,
Bob
Friday, July 1, 2011
Impromptu Ride Today...and a Lesson
We have been contacted by a few of the group stating that they have today or this afternoon off in celebration of the July 4th Weekend. Therefore, by popular demand, we are scheduling an Impromptu Ride for this evening at 5:30pm at Firestone and Summit. This "kickoff" ride will be a real easy spin of about 20 miles. (We wouldn't want to wear ourselves out for the infamous Duker Puker tomorrow!)
And speaking of Gianni Bugno's Duker Puker, the weather forecast looks absolutely perfect for this group favorite...low to mid 80s with a light breeze out of the north to northeast. Come on somebody! As we pass by the site of Happy's Unhappy Mishap (HUM) we will have a moment to HUMmmm. (Just kidding Happy!) Although, last time we did the Duker Puker, someone bailed on another railroad crossing...and as I remember a train was approaching!
Leave it to Gianni to always pick an exciting route!
But wait there's more!!!
Sunday will see the group on the Manzeirre Loop (Home of the Bro!) And, of course on Monday, Independence Day, (wear our colors, i.e. the Stars and Stripes!) we'll do an easy 40 miler down a route we haven't done in months...The Soundside Loop! Four great rides, including this evening, with a great cast of unusual characters! Come out for one, two, three or even all of these classic routes prepared for you at great expense and suffering...or not!
Now for today's lesson:
David "Lawman" Carroll sent me an email after asking Coolio how he kept his chain so perfectly clean. Coolio expressed, other than not using it, there is a special technique to cleaning the chain at least once a week. When you view the lesson, you will see Coolio (using his pen-name Sheldon Brown), demonstrating the technique while donning his hazmat suit. Note how meticulous he cleans his chain. That Coolio, what a character!
View the lesson here:
http://sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html
And I'll see you out on the road...without a clean chain!
Bob
And speaking of Gianni Bugno's Duker Puker, the weather forecast looks absolutely perfect for this group favorite...low to mid 80s with a light breeze out of the north to northeast. Come on somebody! As we pass by the site of Happy's Unhappy Mishap (HUM) we will have a moment to HUMmmm. (Just kidding Happy!) Although, last time we did the Duker Puker, someone bailed on another railroad crossing...and as I remember a train was approaching!
Leave it to Gianni to always pick an exciting route!
But wait there's more!!!
Sunday will see the group on the Manzeirre Loop (Home of the Bro!) And, of course on Monday, Independence Day, (wear our colors, i.e. the Stars and Stripes!) we'll do an easy 40 miler down a route we haven't done in months...The Soundside Loop! Four great rides, including this evening, with a great cast of unusual characters! Come out for one, two, three or even all of these classic routes prepared for you at great expense and suffering...or not!
Now for today's lesson:
David "Lawman" Carroll sent me an email after asking Coolio how he kept his chain so perfectly clean. Coolio expressed, other than not using it, there is a special technique to cleaning the chain at least once a week. When you view the lesson, you will see Coolio (using his pen-name Sheldon Brown), demonstrating the technique while donning his hazmat suit. Note how meticulous he cleans his chain. That Coolio, what a character!
View the lesson here:
http://sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html
And I'll see you out on the road...without a clean chain!
Bob
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Some Housekeeping and Report From The Left Lane
A few housekeeping notes of interest:
1. This weekend is, of course the Independence Day Weekend. We will have rides scheduled each day starting with Giannis Bugno's The Duker Puker on Saturday. This is one of our group's favorite rides. It has has the site of Happy's Unhappy Mishap (say that 3 times fast?!) about halfway into the Puker section of the Duker Puker. Regardless, it is a great route and our Ride Captain will keep the pace manageable throughout the ride.
Sunday will see our group riding the Manzziere Loop (Home of the Bro) to a rest stop downtown. Good fun!
And finally on Monday (4th of July) we will meet at Fish and Wildlife for an easy 40 miles down the Soundside Loop! Come on somebody!
2. Next Wednesday for the WERAD we will meet the West Florida Wheelmen at WSRE Parking Lot for the WFW's version of the WERAD. We all had so much fun last Wednesday together that we thought we would give it another go. Please note they start at 5pm. If you are running a bit late, meet the peloton at Summit and Maygarden as we roll by about 5:20pm or so.
3. And speaking of last Wednesday's ride, you probably are wondering why we didn't see the cycling article in this past weekend's Pensacola News Journal. I was wondering the same thing until I received an email from Jamie Page. The answer is that it was bumped to this coming weekend. You can view it in the Life Section. I understand there are some pictures online at their website as well.
4. We have had several motorists, over the weeks, stop to complain that we are blocking the traffic on Hallmark where we stage our WERAD rides. To alleviate their consternations, tonight let's stage just around the corner on Firestone in the parking lane...under the tree. Thanks for your cooperation.
5. Many of you have asked about the Cross Florida Ride for this October. Well, I have good news. We are, in fact, going to do the ride this year! I have been meeting with Roger Grooter's widow Vicki and her family and we are finalizing the plans for the first ever Roger's Ride! More details will be available soon, however mark your calendars for Thursday October 6th through Sunday October 9th 2011!
Now, for some color commentary from the Left Lane:
We had 2 great rides this weekend.
Saturday: The group rode the Innerarity Point Loop and we had probably the largest turnout we have had in a couple of months. Most of the Usual Suspects were in attendance including Bob (The Vortex), Fox (you pick a nickname!!), Johnny (Bugno) Duke, (Lawman) Dave Carroll, Chip (Circle K Wilson, (Dave4) Mr. Dave Green,who returned for the first time in many months, also returning for the first time in months (Bad Day...more on this later) Bobby (Coolio) Cooley, also returning was the Tampa Tornado.. Count Fishbone, The Prentii, Team Cervelo...(Aero Jim) Brittnell and Chris, Randy (I'm in a Beulah State of Mind) Riche, Mark (The Big Hoagie) Calvert, Dave (The Bad Mayonaise) Mayo ....can't wait to see that nickname in the upcoming News Journal article, Nate, Rusty (The Mayor), Woody & Carol Ann, me The Left Lane and maybe some others....That's the danger of trying to list such a big group ... I probably forgot someone!!
Anyway it was a great ride with the pace being very reasonable heading out until the traditional unannounced sprint before Gulf Beach Highway which Fox took with some wyly blocking of the Vortex who was coming up quick. Relegation of the Fox was discussed but the result was allowed to stand. We cruised out toward Innerarity with the pace remaining reasonable until the short ride group headed to the Navy base Back Door Loop and the rest of us went on to Innerarity. Aero Jim Brittnell did most of the work as the pace really kicked up. We took our usual break at the light before Innerarity and I made sure the group did not leave me in the bathroom like last time we were out this way!!
The ride through Innerarity was fantastic as usual and the group was mostly together throughout. As we passed through Innerarity on the way back the pace accelerated again with Jim out front and then Lawman Dave Carroll going to the front and kicking it up a notch and a group separated itself at the front including Jim, Bob, Fox, CircleK, Lawman, Coolio, Left Lane (for a while) and maybe a couple of others. As the pace accelerated a couple miles before the Dub Blum Bridge Sprint I lost the wheel and fell back around a 1/3 of a mile or so and pulled up as Chris caught up to me. Chris and I started doing a 2 man chase with short pulls at the front in the 24-26 mph range and we got back to within around 100 yards of the lead group as we crossed the Dub Blum. Boy that Chris can really lay down the pace when he gets going. (even though he is on a 58CM bike which is much to small for his 6'6"es and would probably fit me much better!! Trade anyone??. We were close enough to see Circle K take the Dub Blum Prize. Now Bob said that the K Man won only because nobody chased because he did not want to pass Fox who was doing the hard work at the front. I am not sure if I buy Bob's excuse though cause In my personal experience I've had Bob make sure he is at least a foot or two in front of me even if we are cruising side by side at 14mph at an Unannounced Sprint Point (can you say competitive spirit??!!).
We took our final break and then headed down Gulf Beach Highway toward the Infamous Fried Twinkie Sprint which was taken by Vortex Bob with Bugno,Fox & Circle K and others chasing closely.
As we were heading home we were wondering what had happened to Coolio and Lawman Dave who had disappeared only to find out Sunday from Dave that that Coolio had taken a nail all the way through tire tube and rim. Dave said that after much patchwork they were able to get Coolio back on his bike and to ride home. I felt like I had jinxed Coolio by earlier joking that his new nickname should be "Bad Day Bobby" after overhearing him talking about a bad day on the bike. Anyway, it was good to have Coolio back for the first time in several months. Hopefully he will get a new set of rims real soon and rejoin the peloton...you know that Coolio will not ride unless his fastidiously maintained machine is in impeccable condition!!!
Rest of the ride home was pretty uneventful with a certain Left Lane trying a mini breakaway through the Country Club to possibly get over the Barrancas Bridge first. He was quickly joined by Jim and The Count of Fishbone as we headed down Country Club Road. With only a 200 yard gap on the peloton the break was futile so Left Lane having no climbing legs left took the short cut out to Barrancas so as to not have to chase the mountain goats up the bridge.
Group kind of broke up over the Bridge and we rolled in at Richey's in various intervals until everyone was accounted for. It was only a short hop to my house on Gadsden for the traditional 10 AM beer bash on my front porch attended by the usual suspects... Mark The Big Hoagie and Johnny Bugno. As usual Johnny said he would have 1 then ride back up to the F&S area but with a little arm twisting (very little) that became 2 or 3 and Mark who parks his truck at my house before rides from F&W gave The Bugno a ride home!!.
Great ride and of course then around a 2 hour nap!! See you guys on the road soon.
Uh...ditto,
Bob
1. This weekend is, of course the Independence Day Weekend. We will have rides scheduled each day starting with Giannis Bugno's The Duker Puker on Saturday. This is one of our group's favorite rides. It has has the site of Happy's Unhappy Mishap (say that 3 times fast?!) about halfway into the Puker section of the Duker Puker. Regardless, it is a great route and our Ride Captain will keep the pace manageable throughout the ride.
Sunday will see our group riding the Manzziere Loop (Home of the Bro) to a rest stop downtown. Good fun!
And finally on Monday (4th of July) we will meet at Fish and Wildlife for an easy 40 miles down the Soundside Loop! Come on somebody!
2. Next Wednesday for the WERAD we will meet the West Florida Wheelmen at WSRE Parking Lot for the WFW's version of the WERAD. We all had so much fun last Wednesday together that we thought we would give it another go. Please note they start at 5pm. If you are running a bit late, meet the peloton at Summit and Maygarden as we roll by about 5:20pm or so.
3. And speaking of last Wednesday's ride, you probably are wondering why we didn't see the cycling article in this past weekend's Pensacola News Journal. I was wondering the same thing until I received an email from Jamie Page. The answer is that it was bumped to this coming weekend. You can view it in the Life Section. I understand there are some pictures online at their website as well.
4. We have had several motorists, over the weeks, stop to complain that we are blocking the traffic on Hallmark where we stage our WERAD rides. To alleviate their consternations, tonight let's stage just around the corner on Firestone in the parking lane...under the tree. Thanks for your cooperation.
5. Many of you have asked about the Cross Florida Ride for this October. Well, I have good news. We are, in fact, going to do the ride this year! I have been meeting with Roger Grooter's widow Vicki and her family and we are finalizing the plans for the first ever Roger's Ride! More details will be available soon, however mark your calendars for Thursday October 6th through Sunday October 9th 2011!
Now, for some color commentary from the Left Lane:
We had 2 great rides this weekend.
Saturday: The group rode the Innerarity Point Loop and we had probably the largest turnout we have had in a couple of months. Most of the Usual Suspects were in attendance including Bob (The Vortex), Fox (you pick a nickname!!), Johnny (Bugno) Duke, (Lawman) Dave Carroll, Chip (Circle K Wilson, (Dave4) Mr. Dave Green,who returned for the first time in many months, also returning for the first time in months (Bad Day...more on this later) Bobby (Coolio) Cooley, also returning was the Tampa Tornado.. Count Fishbone, The Prentii, Team Cervelo...(Aero Jim) Brittnell and Chris, Randy (I'm in a Beulah State of Mind) Riche, Mark (The Big Hoagie) Calvert, Dave (The Bad Mayonaise) Mayo ....can't wait to see that nickname in the upcoming News Journal article, Nate, Rusty (The Mayor), Woody & Carol Ann, me The Left Lane and maybe some others....That's the danger of trying to list such a big group ... I probably forgot someone!!
Anyway it was a great ride with the pace being very reasonable heading out until the traditional unannounced sprint before Gulf Beach Highway which Fox took with some wyly blocking of the Vortex who was coming up quick. Relegation of the Fox was discussed but the result was allowed to stand. We cruised out toward Innerarity with the pace remaining reasonable until the short ride group headed to the Navy base Back Door Loop and the rest of us went on to Innerarity. Aero Jim Brittnell did most of the work as the pace really kicked up. We took our usual break at the light before Innerarity and I made sure the group did not leave me in the bathroom like last time we were out this way!!
The ride through Innerarity was fantastic as usual and the group was mostly together throughout. As we passed through Innerarity on the way back the pace accelerated again with Jim out front and then Lawman Dave Carroll going to the front and kicking it up a notch and a group separated itself at the front including Jim, Bob, Fox, CircleK, Lawman, Coolio, Left Lane (for a while) and maybe a couple of others. As the pace accelerated a couple miles before the Dub Blum Bridge Sprint I lost the wheel and fell back around a 1/3 of a mile or so and pulled up as Chris caught up to me. Chris and I started doing a 2 man chase with short pulls at the front in the 24-26 mph range and we got back to within around 100 yards of the lead group as we crossed the Dub Blum. Boy that Chris can really lay down the pace when he gets going. (even though he is on a 58CM bike which is much to small for his 6'6"es and would probably fit me much better!! Trade anyone??. We were close enough to see Circle K take the Dub Blum Prize. Now Bob said that the K Man won only because nobody chased because he did not want to pass Fox who was doing the hard work at the front. I am not sure if I buy Bob's excuse though cause In my personal experience I've had Bob make sure he is at least a foot or two in front of me even if we are cruising side by side at 14mph at an Unannounced Sprint Point (can you say competitive spirit??!!).
We took our final break and then headed down Gulf Beach Highway toward the Infamous Fried Twinkie Sprint which was taken by Vortex Bob with Bugno,Fox & Circle K and others chasing closely.
As we were heading home we were wondering what had happened to Coolio and Lawman Dave who had disappeared only to find out Sunday from Dave that that Coolio had taken a nail all the way through tire tube and rim. Dave said that after much patchwork they were able to get Coolio back on his bike and to ride home. I felt like I had jinxed Coolio by earlier joking that his new nickname should be "Bad Day Bobby" after overhearing him talking about a bad day on the bike. Anyway, it was good to have Coolio back for the first time in several months. Hopefully he will get a new set of rims real soon and rejoin the peloton...you know that Coolio will not ride unless his fastidiously maintained machine is in impeccable condition!!!
Rest of the ride home was pretty uneventful with a certain Left Lane trying a mini breakaway through the Country Club to possibly get over the Barrancas Bridge first. He was quickly joined by Jim and The Count of Fishbone as we headed down Country Club Road. With only a 200 yard gap on the peloton the break was futile so Left Lane having no climbing legs left took the short cut out to Barrancas so as to not have to chase the mountain goats up the bridge.
Group kind of broke up over the Bridge and we rolled in at Richey's in various intervals until everyone was accounted for. It was only a short hop to my house on Gadsden for the traditional 10 AM beer bash on my front porch attended by the usual suspects... Mark The Big Hoagie and Johnny Bugno. As usual Johnny said he would have 1 then ride back up to the F&S area but with a little arm twisting (very little) that became 2 or 3 and Mark who parks his truck at my house before rides from F&W gave The Bugno a ride home!!.
Great ride and of course then around a 2 hour nap!! See you guys on the road soon.
Uh...ditto,
Bob
Friday, June 24, 2011
The Results Are In!
The results of the Second Firestone and Summit Blogazoidal Contest are in and the winners are...
But, first I would like to thank all of those who participated in this exciting event. I know you all have been sitting on the edge of you seats awaiting the news of who the winners are this time around.
The scores have been tabulated by the independent accounting firm of De Vortex et De Vortex, LLC. We would like to thank them for their time and effort at absolutely no cost to the Blogazoidal or the members of Firestone and Summit Cycling Group.
Here are the winners:
1st Place ($20. gift card*) Jared "The Missile" Moore
2nd Place ($10. gift card*) Richard "Left Lane" Lopiccolo
3rd Place ($5. gift card*) Tim "Crusher" Fox
*Thanks again to our friends at Bikes Plus here in Pensacola!
Honorable Mentioned:
4th Place David "Bad Mayonnaise" Mayo
5th Place Harland "Happy" Williams
The scores were very close, much closer than our last contest. However, The Missile has come through victorious yet again, thus raising the suspicions among the other contestants. But the scores were checked and rechecked by our independent accounting firm, (who never make mistakes...I mean, they're accountants! Just ask Left Lane.) The difference between 3rd place and 4th place came down to the Tie Breaker with Crusher winning out by the slimmest of margins over the Bad Mayonnaise! Happy was a solid 5th place.
Now here are the answers to the Contest:
1. We surpassed 10,000 Pageviews on April 21, 2011.
2. The acronym WERAD translated into english: Wednesday Evening Meeting With Pain.
3. The countries with the most Pageviews in 2011 other than Unites States and Canada are; 1) Germany; 2) China and 3) United Kingdom.
Tie Breaker: The total number of Pageviews as of noon on June 17, 2011 is 12,264. And we are not even one year old yet! Our Blogazoidal Anniversary is coming soon!!! Stay tuned!!!
Thanks again to all our contestants and congratulations to our winners!!! The gift cards will be mailed or hand delivered to the winners in the next few days. Until then, I'll...
See you out on the road,
Bob
But, first I would like to thank all of those who participated in this exciting event. I know you all have been sitting on the edge of you seats awaiting the news of who the winners are this time around.
The scores have been tabulated by the independent accounting firm of De Vortex et De Vortex, LLC. We would like to thank them for their time and effort at absolutely no cost to the Blogazoidal or the members of Firestone and Summit Cycling Group.
Here are the winners:
1st Place ($20. gift card*) Jared "The Missile" Moore
2nd Place ($10. gift card*) Richard "Left Lane" Lopiccolo
3rd Place ($5. gift card*) Tim "Crusher" Fox
*Thanks again to our friends at Bikes Plus here in Pensacola!
Honorable Mentioned:
4th Place David "Bad Mayonnaise" Mayo
5th Place Harland "Happy" Williams
The scores were very close, much closer than our last contest. However, The Missile has come through victorious yet again, thus raising the suspicions among the other contestants. But the scores were checked and rechecked by our independent accounting firm, (who never make mistakes...I mean, they're accountants! Just ask Left Lane.) The difference between 3rd place and 4th place came down to the Tie Breaker with Crusher winning out by the slimmest of margins over the Bad Mayonnaise! Happy was a solid 5th place.
Now here are the answers to the Contest:
1. We surpassed 10,000 Pageviews on April 21, 2011.
2. The acronym WERAD translated into english: Wednesday Evening Meeting With Pain.
3. The countries with the most Pageviews in 2011 other than Unites States and Canada are; 1) Germany; 2) China and 3) United Kingdom.
Tie Breaker: The total number of Pageviews as of noon on June 17, 2011 is 12,264. And we are not even one year old yet! Our Blogazoidal Anniversary is coming soon!!! Stay tuned!!!
Thanks again to all our contestants and congratulations to our winners!!! The gift cards will be mailed or hand delivered to the winners in the next few days. Until then, I'll...
See you out on the road,
Bob
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