John Wilke

Great pics, looks like fun.

iab

Is it me or do I have the brightest ass in the peleton?

Psimet2001 

If by "bright" you mean "smart"....

Hipcycler

....but I bet you have a great personality though....

voldemort

Great ride, considering all the bad omens I had. Questionable forecast. Then when I get my bike out of the garage, I have a flat tire. Of course I'd left myself too little time to fix it before driving to the Udder, so I show up with a flat tire. Preoccupied thinking about the flat, I'd left the house... without a helmet or gloves. Thanks to the Psimet Service Department, my flat was fixed fast enough that I could still ride out with you guys. Thanks, Rob. Helmet and gloves, Shider to the rescue. Thanks for the loaners. And thanks to everybody for waiting around.
When we got rolling, I thought it seemed like we were on a pretty fast pace, even for this group. But I wasn't sure how fast we were going because the service technician bumped the magnet when changing my flat. I'll have to talk with the manager.
I think it was after the first rest stop that I blinked, and most of the group was gone. I mean I decided to ride sweep. Thanks for hanging with me, Smokin'Miles. And personally, I think we only saw that jet once 'cause they couldn't keep up with Shider, Aham, et al.
Finished the 62 with iab and Kenalo. If any of you doing the full century found a pair of wiped out legs on the side of the road in that last section, I think mine fell off somewhere climbing out of that valley (I need to remember to get in a little/lot more early season riding). Fortunately didn't need 'em much with that downhill finish. And it didn't start raining until about 2 minutes after I got in the car.

shider

Here are a few of the highlights from my point of view:

I arrived and was directed to park in a soft field with long grass several hundred yards from the registration building. I didn’t much care for walking through the mud in my bike shoes but if I wore my sneakers, I’d have to make a return trip anyway. Luckily my cleats didn’t get clogged up and I made it to the registration building were there was a big sign saying no cycling cleats in the building. Who planned this? I’ve heard of no shoes, no service, but here it was a case of no service with shoes! (Later on in the ride I saw a bid sign at one of the rest stops says no bicycles on the grass. It was surrounded by about 50 bikes on the grass.) For my pre-ride return to my truck with Voldemort I just rode the bike. (Voldemort: I got my helmet and gloves back fine. I can only apologize that they hadn’t recently been cleaned.)

There was of course a lot of talk on this board about the pace of this ride and whether there was going to be any pace lines and sharing of the load. As we set off, Psimet took pole with a 15.5 mph pace for the first mile or so before bringing the it up to 20 to 21 mph. I rode up beside him early on and stayed there for the next 8 miles! (Weren’t we supposed to count pedal rotations or something?) Unless I’m mistaken, the group pretty much stayed together for this part of the ride and it was (for me) very relaxing but also very enjoyable, carrying on conversations and the like.

After the first rest stop, the group was passed by a couple of time trial bikes. Full carbon disks in back make an unmistakable sound! I figured we wouldn’t see them again but a few miles later we (some of us anyway, its hard to keep track of who’s on and who’s dropped other than those people immediately around you) passed them back going up some small inclines. Somewhere around here the pace started to pick up and the two carbon jockeys made their way past us again. (We may have even passed each other a couple of times.) I happened to be taking my pull at the front (this wasn’t like the beginning of the ride, I couldn’t take more than 30 seconds at the front at this speed) and decided to jump on his tail just to see how fast he was going. I had no hope of matching him but I figured I might be able to draft him for a little while. To my surprise the group joined me and from there until the next rest stop (about 10 miles) it was a complete hammerfest. I knew my legs were going to pay for it later on in the ride but it was a lot of fun getting sucked along and pulling (for short periods or up hills were I seem to do better) with a group of riders who are faster than me.

It was also around this point where we nearly had our major scare (other than the weather) of the ride. I was drafting one of the time trailers when he suddenly realized there was a left turn marked. I have to admit that the markers (although always there) did occasionally blend into the background. While I was about 3 inches off his rear tire with the rest of the group immediately behind me, he yelled, braked and turned faster that you just read the words. Some of us made it around the corner and some took the smart way out and went straight on and then doubled back. I didn’t realize it at the time but this split the already fractured group. How we didn’t have a huge pile up there I don’t know.

After the second rest stop I was severely punished. I don’t know what happened exactly except that I was fighting to stay on the tail end of the four man group. As if that wasn’t enough they kept a steady rotation so I found myself at the front with regularity too. I managed to hang with them until the third rest stop made its appearance. If it had been a mile further down the road I would have been riding alone.

Looking at the weather radar in the morning I would have bet that it was going to happen and it did, at about mile 70, half way between the third and fourth rest stops. I blame whoever it was at the third rest stop that exclaimed how one couldn’t have asked for better weather. Cresting a small hill we crossed an intersection. “Clear right!” was called out. I looked right and it most definitely was not clear to the right. There were some very nasty dark looking clouds that way. Sure enough it didn’t take long for them to hit us. The wind drove the rain hard enough that it stung! I didn’t see any hail but I have ridden in hail storms that have been more comfortable. The worst part (other than the stinging rain) was the first several minutes where, due to the water splashing and being blown from my front wheel, my left foot was completely soaked. With each rotation of the crank my left foot squelched in its sodden sock while my right foot served as a nagging reminder of what dry feet feel like. It didn’t last long before I was drenched completely and just became numb to the situation.

The final leg of the ride I was determined to ride at my own pace. SmokinMiles had set out several minutes before the group and so I was expecting that we might catch up to her along the way. She had told me earlier in the ride though that she came into her own at around mile 80. I think it was near the base of the “big” hill at around mile 90-92 that Aham23 announced he had blown up or something to that affect. As the two faster guys pulled off the front and Aham23 drifted back I found myself alone for the first time in the ride. I rode by myself for a while passing and being passed by the occasional rider until I got bored and waited at a stop sign for someone I recognized. As he passed by Aham23 asked me who I was waiting for. I think I was in a daze, I hadn’t even seen him, although to be fair, he was riding along next to a female cyclist who wasn’t part of the group. I joined the two of them but didn’t manage to get a word in edgewise. Aham23 didn’t either. She dropped back not too long afterwards and Aham23 and I finished the few remaining miles. It wasn’t long at all before the others showed up. I was surprised to see SmokinMiles pull up because that means I must have passed her somewhere. I honestly don’t remember that happening, kinda scary.

My final stats were 5 hours, 11 minutes ride time at 19.2 mph. Not that it matters though, I don’t race but I do like to challenge myself and its interesting to compare times/speeds from one year to another. It is always a real pleasure to ride with such a great group of people. I can honestly say I’m sorry I can’t do it more often.

Hipcycler

^ another one.....
Animals.

They're all animals I tell ya.

SmokinMiles

"After the first rest stop, the group was passed by a couple of time trial bikes. Full carbon disks in back make an unmistakable sound! I figured we wouldn’t see them again "

In my mind these time trialers might as well just have thrown down the gauntlet. As soon as I saw them, I thought, "these guys are gonna chase their sorry butts down just because, well, just because they can!"

You passed me with around 5 miles to go, and I said, "good job" and you replied real nice to me. I think it was probably that I was wearing a jacket and you didn't recognize my jersey....or that the figure on the bike was a shadow of my former self Crystal

shider

My wife says the cadence on our tandem goes up whenever there is a bicycle visible in front of us.

I figured you probably said something to me and I replied with something unintelligible and kept riding.

aham23

classic!!

later.

cyclpsycho

Nice report Shider!

Hate the disk!!

I want you to know I'll always be behind you speedy

I'm just glad I found that "old fat guys" can still do a 5 hr. century

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and hope to ride with the group again soon!

aham23

Yes, Yes we are!

i actually was looking forward to hammering out "a" century this year. i too enjoy pushing myself to and beyond limits that i once didn't even know existed. however, i did not think it would be so early in the year. maybe august, but no way did i think i would approach a five hour century the first weekend in june. (*edit)

one thing i found kind of neat was when we all rolled in everyone was checking their computers and announcing their stats. it went something like this:

5:10 / 19.2
5:11 / 19.2
5:12 / 19.2
5:13/ 19.2

and so on.

later.

dannwilliams

So fast he is now a month into the future!

aham23

^^^^ i think i am still dazed and confused from all of sunday' speed!