Giro Substitute

"Just saw that the 5150 is on the 24th, this coming Sunday.  Anyone up for the Lee Rd. Northshore ride.....?"  The simple mid-week email offered an opportunity for an option for the regular Sunday Giro Ride.  The triathlon would be closing off some of the usual route, and there weren't any races on the calendar, so it seemed like a good idea to put together an ad hoc northshore ride.  That's pretty much how these rides happen during the summer. 

By the time I'd walked the dogs and loaded the bike into the car I was already running late for our 6:30 am meeting at Pucchio's.  I arrived there to find a pretty good crowd that was about ready to roll, so I picked up a quick coffee and headed out across the lake and into a stiff north northeast wind with Mark M. to the ride start at Lee Road Junior High.  It was going to be a hot ride.  When we arrived at the school parking lot I looked around and thought, "This is likely to be a hard ride."  I guess there were about thirty riders on hand for this last-minute little ride.  It was going to be a big, hot, hard ride.

Down from the firetower to Enon

Fortunately, things started out at a reasonable pace and the group was soon strung into a long, long paceline.  I use the term paceline loosely because the guys at the front weren't dropping back.  We breezed through the right turn onto Lee Road without stopping to regroup and I knew the group wouldn't be taking many prisoners today. A few of us split off the front for a while, but by the time we started the long downhill from the Firetower hill to Enon most everybody had reconnected.  Aside from a very brief nature break at the usual place, we rode steady all the way to Highway 10.  Mignon looked back, a little worried I think that she was getting in a little over her head and hoping there was maybe a smaller group just off the back.  There wasn't. 

It was getting warmer as we started the long stretch back to the southeast, and just after the first of the three significant climbs along there, Tim flatted.  We stopped at a little patch of shade while he fixed it.  Mignon rode on ahead to avoid what we all knew was going to be a fast section.  We regrouped at the end of Sie Jenkins Road, picking up a nice bit of tail/crosswind.  This stretch back toward the west features constant rollers and can sometimes feel really hard.  Today, however, it seemed unusually smooth and fast.  Making the final turn back south toward Enon, and picking up a solid tailwind, the group didn't hang around,averaging 28 mph all the way to Enon.  By then the heat was really starting to get to everyone and we stopped for water before taking off on the last stretch.

It is really starting to feel like summer now.....