Yeah, I'll be waving hello and then goodbye!

Bump

So you need to load up your car and get on the road ASAP, if you want to push off on time with the rest of us!!

DougG, will you be coming with us?

Rain is forecast for tomorrow.

If the rain holds off, my plan is to be there to register by 7:00 and push-off at 7:30.

Right now Intellicast is saying 10% probability of precip through about 6 pm, so that's a lot better than they said last night.

Well, that was sure a great ride on a great day! It really didn't get hot until the last couple of hours, and the roads were interesting -- lots of rollers but no real killers. My group started at 8:30 and finished just about 2:00 (64-mile route), with stops at the two SAGs plus lunch of course. And that was a really nice, shady, peaceful location for the lunch, wasn't it?

The one thing I might do differently next year is to either just ride alone or at least with a group at more my pace. I could keep up with the group, but at the expense of getting a bit uncomfortable by the end of the ride. But then I was 15 years older than the next oldest, and 25 years older than the gal who was leading much of the way! I just didn't want to be the "old guy" that everyone had to wait up for. Better to ride it at my ideal pace and enjoy the scenery a bit more.

We also had a very nice ride.Sorry i missed you DougG, it was great seeing Irwin and Roadfan and Mrs.Roadfan.

Sounds like we just missed you DougG. I was riding my own ride all day and mingling with people along the way. I figure I spent 4.25-4.5 hours in the saddle on the 64 mile ride. It was a great day and mild rolling hills along the way without any really strenuous climbs. I loved it. Ran into Mr and Mrs Roadfan again at the third stop, it was a great day overall. It was good to see Jay, Judy, Ken and Norma again.

Marc

I had a pretty good day too. I think I left around 8:15 or 8:30 -- didn't look at my watch -- and did 75 miles. It was starting to get warm by the last rest stop, but getting on the last stretch always energizes me, so that was probably my fastest stretch of the day. Man, there sure was lots of tri bikes out there today. I know I passed about fifty of them, not even counting the regular road bikes with aerobars.

Good job, guys!

By the way, did you guys see that little "streamliner" 3-wheeler bike along the course? I'm sure that thing is fast, but we were trying to figure out how hot it must be in there on an 80-degree day. Even with ventilation it must be stifling, not to mention that you can't really see much from inside that bubble canopy. Defeats the whole idea of being on a bicycle IMO unless you're trying to set a speed record of some sort.

I was wondering the same thing. There was also a fully enclosed bent (it had a fairing with a nylon enclosure zipped around it.) I think they must be hot to ride unless they have draft openings I couldn't see.

Marc

Maybe they wear ice packs under their jerseys.

Mrs. Road Fan and I got there about 7:30 and found Marc, Freedomrider and Mrs. Freedomrider near the start. The RFs and the FRs planned to do the 39, and Marc had bigger plans. Marc's route diverged from ours after about 50 feet, since AABTS changed the route a little, to stay off State Highway M52 at the beginning. We rode with the FRs through the "foothills" and into the "mountains" until we reached our first break at Portage Lake (main lunch stop). We sat, cooled, munched, drank and chatted. Mrs RF wanted to make it longer since we were both feeling rather strong, so we opted to add miles on Leg 2. All loops were routed through Portage, so we could just jump on the 100 miler last legs and add 20 miles to our total. We felt the heat, but otherwise finished decently well at about 1:40 pm, 53 miles total with a custom route. We stopped at Portage Lake for the main break, to see the emus or ostriches at a farm, and a few times for water, saddle adjusts, or a little cool in some shade. We didn't see the FRs after leaving the lunch stop, I presume they finished their 39 mi before 1 pm or so and headed home. We saw Marc at the second rest stop. I think we finished before him, but not sure - he didn't pass us, but I didn't see him at the finish. At base at the end I saw and greeted Blazing Pedals, and from last year, Friend of Blazing Pedals (now I know he's Chris). I missed DougG, but apparently not by much! Let's plan to meet up next year!

Chris is the owner of that streamliner trike everyone is talking about. He told me he was faster on (in?) it than he was on his NoCom last year. I didn't think to ask him how the heat affected him.

You may not have asked him, but he sure fielded the question enough times! He stated that he was probably cooler than most of us, since he was always in the shade and had cooling air blowing across him all the time. The white reflected most of the sun away from him. Several people had to poke their faces inside to check out where the motor was - except there wasn't one. Just goes to show how aerodynamically horrible most bikes are that he could make 61 pounds of machine go that much faster. (His average speed through the lunch stop was 25 mph.)

I happen to agree with the sentiment that it's really not like riding a bike anymore. To some degree, recumbents are different animals from uprights; but the full streamliner body takes that to a whole new level. I rode for a few years, with various degrees of fairings, before deciding that I preferred riding a 'bare' bike more; even if it was slower.

Chris' velomobile:

Bizarre.

Sounds like y'all had a really great ride together. I'd be careful with those alien craft that were encountered on the course. They look pretty scary to me.

Bill

We steered clear of the tractor beams, but they don't have much range without the antimatter reactor installed.