Psimet2001 

Well the first BFNIC Cenruty has come and gone. So far it appears the preliminary feedback has been good. I have received a lot of "thank you"s for the route planning and organizing. The weather was PERFECT, and the turn-out was pretty good as well.

In the morning everyone had pretty good spirits despite the cold. Knowing that we were riding loops back to the same parking lot a lot of people (myself included) decided to wear many layers. (sorry if I get names wrong)

iab


CyLowe97


The whole group before leaving:

L to R:dekalbSTEEL, Voldemort, Scott (Kimbercop's Friend), Kimbercop, iab, shider, aham23, CyLowe97 (I'm taking the picture)

Me (does this kit make me look fat?):


...continued...

Psimet2001 

We started rolling out, and right from the start I started feeling like the slow social ride aspect was somehow lost in translation. I didn't have any problems with the pace, but we started popping riders out the back like popcorn.

Maintaining my "no drop" ride had me dropping back to lend a hand. First Voldemort seemed to be struggling to keep the pace, but once he got warmed up he turned it on...never to be seen at the back again. Kimbercop was not riding like himself. Something was up, and his legs just weren't there.

He told me more than once to give him a cue sheet and leave him, but that just wasn't in the spirit of the ride...


In typical Midwest fashion we did get 2 "tractor ups" during the ride. This one had a huge disc attachment on it that just about shredded the lot of uf...
Hard to see...sorry.

...continued...

Psimet2001 

At that point CyLowe had dropped back from the lead group to join Kimbercop and I. We still had sight of them, and realized a little late that they had blown through a turn on the route. After some quick thinking and discussion CyLowe rode up to their group to lead them on a 1.5-2 mile detour while Kimbercop and I went back and took the correct turn.

Kind of sneaky, but they needed the extra length to take some energy out of those legs .

They caught us within a few miles. dekalbSTEEL exclaimed, "you didn't think this break was going to stay away did you?". Sadly...no I didn't, but it bought us some time and distance. We stayed together through the next couple of miles to my first surprise of the morning.

I got an idea to play on the whole "flat" trait of the route and create a "King of the Mountains" competition. To make it more interested I also created a "Queen of the Mountains" competition as well. We had gotten to turn before the "mountain" on the first route. I informed the group that I needed to know the first and secon as well as the last and secon-to-last riders to go over the "mountain".

We all rolled out from the stop sign at the turn together. Shider and Aham were off like a shot. It became clear that one of them had it. Now it bacame more about not being the last one over. Kimbercop and CyLowe were in the back, and then it happened. CyLowe dropped his chain while shifting to his small ring. Man his mechanic sucks (that would be me folks). As a result the final standings for the 1st mountain are as follows:

KOM:
1st - 100pts - Shider
2nd - 50pts - aham

QOM:
1st (last) - 100pts - CyLowe97
2nd - 50pts - Kimbercop

From there we had a long "descent" into Marengo, and the first stop, where it was every rider for themselves.

...continued...

Psimet2001 

Shots of the stop:
Aham and Shider plotting their next breakaway...


dekalbSteel thinking about filling aham's bottle with lead shot to help slow him down...


iab taking his phone camera shots..."I don't care how many megapixels it is...with this tiny lens it will still suck."


CyLowe. I don't care how many times I post it, but that jersey rocks.


...continued...

Psimet2001 

Rolling back into Hampshire after the first stop was going to have some up-hill. We took off like rockets after getting through town, and the group expolded again on the hills. At one stop sign CyLowe and dekalbSteel offered to ride sweep, that way I could go up to the front group to make sure they didn't miss any more turns.

I had to stoke the fire and burn 26-28mph to bridge it up to that group. I couldn't help but wonder how many matches I was going to have left by the end of the day if I had to keep floating around the group. When I made contact it was hammer down for everyone. I was starting to get iffy about the next turn (must have been a lactic acid fog ) so I decided to jump off the front to see where it was.

Well everyone took it as a cue to pick up the pace. It was right into a hill and poor Voldemort had just pulled off the front. Everyone, including myself, shattered. I turned around to say, "you guys weren't supposed to follow", but it came out...."huff, huff, U, huff, huff, huff, shys, huff, huff...." Luckily we were only a couple of miles away from being back at the cars.

Sarge had already called to say that there were new riders waiting to join up with us for the next leg. Everyone made it in relatively close together. Kimbercop, CyLowe, and dekalb were all within 5 minutes of us getting there.

...next...loop 2.

CyLowe97

This is an epic ride report. Will the second leg come out three years from now, a la George Lucas releasing the trilogy at three year intervals?

Drag

This is good.

aham23

I can't wait...........keep it coming!!!!!!!!

Psimet2001 

We picked up a few, and lost a few riders for loop 2. Nothingman (who was wanting to do the whole century, but we forgot he was on, and he made it there 20 minutes after we left) was ready to go. We also picked up S_Dog and his buddy "Joe" as well as a JPW.

Joe brought the third Giant TCR to the group - sweet.


Waiting for the rollout...
Shider, iab, JPW


Voldemort and dekalbSteel relaxing while Kimbercop and Scott pack up...


CyLowe winning kit points for bringing out his old school LeMond era Team Z jacket - Hip you gotta give him props for that....BTW - he refuses to wear it on the bike least anyone think that he was the world champ...


iab - sporting the pith helmet for Hip's consideration.


Voldemort sporting his Katrina Relief Fund "New Orleans" jersey complete with sublimated beads - I like the martini glass.


S_Dog unloading that POS Scott.... ...it really is a beat to see in person. A-1 on that job.


...continued...

shider

I don't know about Aham, but as for myself, any plotting or planning I had was distinctly related to taking it easy and hanging around mid-pack. I don't know exactly what happened but whenever we started moving my brain got over-ruled and the next thing I know, i'm pedalling like a maniac to stay at/near the front.

Great report so far.

CyLowe97

I didn't even notice the beads.... that's clever. Great jersey, voldemort!

Psimet2001 

Loop 2 got rolling and it was back to old games. The speed picked up. I was starting to get worried because this loop was the roughest if the wind were to kick up. It is hard to explain why these particular roads were tough, but for me they have always been that way. If we were going to have a fractured group...it was going to happen here.

We got to the first major turn *said with evil voice* "Melms", and dekalb told me he was going to jet. His legs just weren't in it. I was totally shocked. I figured he would be one of the riders blowing us apart, but he mentioned that he had been short on the miles lately, and he had family members not felling good at home. I was sorry to see him go becuase we hadn't really had much of a chance to talk it up. Thanks Dekalb for helping sweep and for coming out!



Well the wind started kicking out of the South and while we did keep the group together for most of it, Joe started to falter. I dropped back to ride with him and provide a wind shield for him. We got to talking and I found out that Joe had just gotten out of the Army (101st - Airborne - Screaming Eagles) after serving 3 tours. Spent a lot of time in Iraq, etc. He said he knew he was going to use some of the money he had saved up to buy a bike when he got out, but had thought it was going to be a motorcycle. S_Dog helped him think about getting a bicycle instead. Now he's hooked.

This was only his 3rd ride...period. Even after "cracking" he was still hauling a 15-17mph pace behind me. I couldn't have done that after 3 rides. He kept apologizing for his speed, but all I kept thinking was "F that...thanks for serving."

We got to the second stop in Genoa and drenched the local biker gas station in lycra. In all the planning I had fogotten to bring food on both the 1st and second loops. CyLowe helped me out with some shot blocks on the first, and I got a Payday on the second. After that we were back into the country for the second KOM climb. Unfortunately I had only located the KOM points positions on the GPS and had not looked at them in person so all I could tell everyone was that it was where the RR corssed the road.

KOM 2:
1st - 100pts - aham23
2nd - 50pts - Shider

QOM:
1st (last) - 100pts - Joe
2nd - 50pts - S_Dog

Totals:
KOM:
150 - aham23
150 - Shider

QOM:
100 - Joe
100 - CyLowe97
50 - Kimbercop
50 - S_Dog

The ride back into the forest preserve was rough. Nothingman dropped back to chat with S_Dog, Joe, and myself. It is a long steady incline that never seems to end and it was rough. We all pulled in fairly close to each other.

...continued....yeah seriously....continued...

Psimet2001 

Back at the cars we gained a few and lost a few. Drag was there to meet us, as well as Velodev. Joe and S_Dog decided to cut it short due. They both wanted to keep going, but in all fairness that last leg had done a job on Joe. Next time. Nothingman was out for the next leg as well.

The stop got expensive as first aham knocks over his Giant TCR (crash! - "WTF"), then Drag pulled a clipless fall over right in the middle of everything. His timing was perfect. I felt sorry for him because we have all done it, but this was his first organized ride and he was in front of a group of guys that he felt had a lot of experience.

I think most of us wanted to laugh because he wasn't hurt, we had all been there, and it was funny. Instead no one moved. Almost like we weren't sure how to salvage his pride. After we ascertained he was OK there were a few, "Well...at least you got that out of the way"s.

The whole group between loop 2 and 3. Keep in mind that some of us had over 70 miles of hard riding in at this point...

L to R:Shider, CyLoew97, Joe, S_Dog, Me(Psimet2001), JPW, Voldemort, Velodev, Drag, aham23, and Nothingman.

Loop 3 looked promising. While I didn't pre-ride the route, I remembered most of the road being flat (wrong), and most of the riders had 70 miles in already so we wouldn't have much of a problem keeping together. What I had forgot was that the wind was out of the South and this leg was almost all South for the first half.

There was climbing and it quickly blew us up again. It was at the top of "Tower road" (called tower road because it is the highest point around for a couple of counties and there is a huge communications tower perched on top of it) that I had placed the last KOM points location.

I didn't see who was in front, but I was definitely last.

KOM 3:
1st - 100pts - Shider
2nd - 50pts - aham23

QOM 3:
1st (last) - 100pts - Psimet2001
2nd - 50pts - CyLowe97

Totals:
KOM:
250 - shider
200 - aham23

QOM:
150 - CyLowe97
100 - Psimet2001
100 - Joe
50 - Kimbercop
50 - S_Dog

After the top the groups got back together, except for aham and Velodev (shider may have been with them as well), and we got a good paceline going. All of a sudden I see JPW (or Shider can't rememebr for sure) pull off and notice Drag is pulling. I had a feeling this was his first time pulling, and I knew his heart was probably pounding (more from nerves) and he was soaking up the moment. It was a strong pull. Right on the money.

.....continued....

Psimet2001 

At this point we got to the end of our travel South. There had been a lot of other riders out on the roads due to the Pumpkin Pedal Ride, but it lookedlike the riders that were on the road past our turn were ours. We sat for a while as I dug out my phone to call up to aham.

"Did I miss the turn??!"
"Yup."
"**%#$**^&*@! - Crappy directions!"

It gave us a much needed break as we waited for aham and veldev to join back up. From there it was a short jaunt West until the road finally turned North for the final leg. As soon as we turned you got hot because the wind wasn't blowing over you anymore. That's always my first sign that the hammer of Thor is about to come down.

We got tight and really started to open it up. I asked about .5 miles in if we still had everyone (I was second or third wheel at the time), and got back a "no, we lost a few." CyLowe was with them so I felt OK to stay with the group. We found some sections with sweeping turns and just opened it up. Even aham had to pull off the front after cashing out.



We got into Burlington and looked for the stop I had planned. On the weekends Burlington is a major crossroads for a lot of motorcyclists, and yesterday being so beautiful the place was just packed. I joked that we should head into the local "biker" bar, because we were bikers, but everyone knew that wasn't going to happen.

We found some shade and waited for everyone else to filter in. We weren't waiting long. All of us got some liquids and food and lamented over the wind. The last 10-15 miles were finally upon us!

The groups held together for most of the lest leg, but by the time we made it through Hampshire again it was every man for themselves. I limped back to the forest preserve in about 3rd spot. My wife, son and in-laws were there waiting to meet the group. I want to especially thank Sarge for volunteering to be available for SAG. I'll have to take him out for dinner to help thank him.

My final stats as follows - keep in mind that for everyone it was a different ride. Different turns, different speeds, and different amounts of waiting. It made it unique for everyone.

Distance: 102.08 - my computer is off, it should have been around 104
Riding Time: 6:09
Max Speed: 35.1
Avg Spd: 16.5
Total Time: At home on Heart Monitor, but somthing like 7:58 - a lot of stopping and chatting.

I thought htis route was 1200 feet of climbing, but it seemed like a lot more. With the motion based data coming back it is looking like it was more like 3400 feet of climbing. The world may never know for sure...

Voldemort celbrating his first century with a "recovery drink"


Aham after tearing up over 100 miles of pavement...


Drag handing out Cliff Bars. No takers, dekalb's cookies were just too good! Thanks dekalb, Drag, and Nothingman for bringing food to share!..


All - in - All I think it was a great ride. I appreciate all of the compliments about the route. After putting in this much time my only fear was that no one would show. To the contrary we had a good turn out and I think a lot of new people have realized that there are a great bunch of BF members in the are to ride with.

We'll have to start planning a get together sometime in the winter. Doesn't have to be riding, but something like a pot luck, or hike or something....

It's getting time for me to pick up my son from daycare so I'll have to post some final thoughts and the formal KOM, QOM awards later tonight. Turns out Shider is thinking he wasn't in front on the last climb...

Let's hear some thoughts. Who had the best bike? What was the best kit? Who was unstoppable? Why weren't there any WI riders??

Drag

Thanks for the post-ride recap Psimet!

Since this will be the official register, I'll repost my comments from the other thread here:

I don't think the weather could've been better (okay maybe less wind on some routes).

First, off, a hearty THANK YOU to the entire BFNIC crew, especially Psimet for doing all the event legwork. (Thanks to your father-in-law for the SAG role too!)

I've only been on the bike since the last weekend in August and I was able to accomplish a lot of FIRSTS on this ride:

1) First time I rode a distance far enough that it actually had a name: HALF-METRIC! Woo-hoo! I know. I know. What's the big deal, but again I've only been riding a few weeks, and my longest ride prior to today was only 21 miles. I don't think I could've shared the event with a nicer group. Thanks for pulling me along fellas!
2) First organized group ride.
3) First pace-line. That was a paceline right?
4) First time as lead bike of a paceline. Not that I meant to pull, but I just happened to be the second bike in line when the first guy rolled out. It was a short lived mile and a half experience but will be cherished nonetheless.
5) First mid-ride stop at a gas station for refreshments. Never rode far enough to need to stop anywhere. LOL!
6) And, lastly, first Christening of my Litespeed as it fell and kissed the asphalt . . . with me clipped into it. Just my luck, a decade of riding MTBs on wicked trails that require multiple spontaneous clipless exits and I can't unclip in a parking lot at 1mph in front of a dozen seasoned cyclists who I just met. (My wife got a kick out of this.) Anyway, anybody know where I can get a replacement left Ultegra brifter cap? For cheap?

Some things I learned:
A. These boys are FAST! I could barely keep up with them, if at all!
B. I really need to get a lot more miles in these legs, but that's no surprise. I was in upper Zone 4 and Zone 5 nearly the entire time. Clearly puts things into perspective and provides me something to shoot for.
C. Paceline riding requires a series of quick strokes and minor jabs at the brakes.
D. For the first time, I didn't find riding in the drops all too uncomfortable, at least not as much as I remember. My other road bike has a farther drop from the seat to the bars, so that obviously had something to do with it. I also figured out I may need to mildy adjust the angle of my bars.
E. Don't bother riding clipped in while in a small parking lot (see #6 above).

It was a privilege to meet all of you BFNIC gents and am looking forward to the next one!

CyLowe97

Hey, I was riding sweep, man!




Amazing report. I'm still gathering my thoughts on the ride. You pretty much said it all above.

Drag

I updated/posted a link in the general roadie forum to link to this thread.



Cylowe - Thanks for pulling me on the last climb. I really didn't know how long that hill was gonna go. I actually thought it was gonna be another mile or so until I saw you pull off. Thank goodness!

dekalbSTEEL

Great report! Sorry I had to bail. It was a great ride while it lasted for me. I am going to have to nominate myself for best MATCHING kit. When you can coordinate jersey, socks, helmet, gloves AND bike, that's saying something!
And I'm also going to have to nominate myself for biggest A$$ of the day! Can you tell I haven't been riding much?

iab

My 02, realizing I was there for only the first two legs:

Best bike - Kimbercop's Pinarello (I love anything Italian) or Nothingman's Litespeed.
Best kit - Nothingman's green and black, less is more.
Unstoppable - That's a no-brainer, aham23 and Shider (alphabetical order, not 1 and 2).
No riders from WI - Lost their passports to cross the Cheddar Curtain.
And a special shout-out to best masher - Scott, that was damned impressive

iab

Sure, easy to say for someone matching colors. Just try pulling something together in black, white and gray. That's no easy task.

Hipcycler

...ah the judging is underway fellas....my other 'official' award thread....waiting for any additional pictures in that thread....Nice job by all.

--No WI riders?
Well, I was there in spirit....couldn't make it. As for any others...perhaps in mourning about how good the Bears are and much the Packers suck this season?

--CyLowe....QUEEN of anything is NOT a good thing. I think it was those socks!

Missed you guys....maybe one more outta La Grange yet this fall?

Juliette

Nice job guys! Thanks for sharing the pics. I'm voting for Voldemorts outfit, its just the combination of the beads and those neon yellow/green campy socks that did it for me. I was busy over at Pumpkin Pedal. Great day to ride...hope to see you all at the next one!

caligurl

sounds like you all had a great time! i love the idea of KOM/QOM points! just makes for an additional fun thing to do!!!!!!!

way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!

cyclezealot

Curious to have a chat with your friend Aham. I have a US 40 jersey. But, my US 40 jersey is like 2000 miles west of yours, like strung out across Nevada. Guess, mine would never be labeled Rain. Mine is more like 'loneliest road.' What is this rain ride about. ?

CyLowe97

RAIN = Ride Across INdiana. One way. One day. 160 miles or so.