It was warmer this morning, and by 8 a.m. I knew it would be nearly perfect riding weather - temperature nearing 70F, light breeze, sunny skies. That sort of thing can have an effect on the group ride, you know. I was half-way out to the Lakefront when my phone rang. Naturally I was also halfway up the Wisner overpass at the time, but I figured I'd better try and answer it since nobody calls me at that time on a Saturday morning unless it's important. So I pulled over, put a foot down, and got the phone out of its ziplock bag just about when it rolled over to voicemail. It was Cat, a rider in town from TN who had emailed me a few days ago. She was calling from the Starbucks on Veterans Hwy. to make sure we were doing the northshore ride today. It was about 6:55. I told her the northshore ride was Sunday, but that if she was fast, she might be able to catch the Giro. I gave her directions to Elysian Fields Ave. and Lakeshore Drive, figuring she would have a chance of getting ahead of the group by a few miles to buy a little extra time. I didn't really think she'd make it, but when she called back we were still about a mile from there so it all worked out OK.
There was a pretty big group this morning, yet the pace stayed fairly civilized most of the way out. As things settled down along Chef Highway we briefly had a double paceline going that included the whole group - maybe 40-50 riders. I thought maybe there should be a Guiness Book of World Records record for "longest double paceline." It lasted a couple of rotations before somebody revved up the pace at the front and things started to disintegrate. Even so, it never quite got ballistic on the way out to Venetian Isles, thanks in some small part to the fact that a number of guys are currently focused on low-gear winter spinning. I was with 'em there for a while, but finally gave in and went to the big ring when the speeds got up to 26 or so. For some reason, the pace on the way back today was pretty fast with only a couple of very brief slowdowns. A number of riders got split off the back when the pace failed to slow down after the Goodyear Sign Sprint on Chef. Cat came off the back around that time, and Mark D. dropped back to make sure she didn't get lost. At one point as we were barrelling down Hayne Blvd., I looked over at Brandon, who had earlier given me a long leadout coming into the Goodyear Sign sprint, and said "man, they sure haven't been slowing down on the way back today." He shot right back with "Yeah, I think they're training for the Winter Olympics." Made me laugh. So anyway, after sprinting up the two bridges at the end of Hayne, I dropped off the back to look for Cat becasue I knew she had been dropped but I didn't yet know that Mark was staying with her. I was glad she had someone to ride with, because I didn't want to have to mount a search and rescue operation today. It was a good ride today, and people hung around the parking lot for a long time afterwards enjoying the warm sunshine.
I was halfway home when it finally dawned on me that it was my birthday. You should always have a nice ride like that on your birthday.
No comments:
Post a Comment