January 19, 2004

  • Well, it’s Jan 18th (also my birthday) and the Sunday ride is upon us.
    I arrive to find quite a crowd in the lot.  Dave,  Glenn H.
    Paul and Bob.  Kent pulls in few seconds before
    myself.   It’s about 18 degrees and should warm-up so all are
    in good sprits.   Kent brings Glenn some new booties which he
    cuts the proper opening using Paul’s knife.

     As we chat I see a lone unrecognized rider coming from the
    North.   As he rolls up to the group I recognize this a
    Mark.  I guess this is Marks 1st ride with the boyz.  I let
    the crew know that he will not be the “Whipping Boy”.  Sometimes
    folks might want to test the new guy, but since I know how strong Mark
    has been in the past I figured a subtle hint would keep the boyz in
    check.   I couldn’t help note that Mark was wearing the
    Rock & Road Team Colors.   Yep,  turns out he has
    signed with Rock and Road after leaving the FCRC Team .   With
    intro done we decide to do Kent’s Centennial Route.   (This
    report is also rated PG, NFCCC (No Fort Collins Club content, just to
    let the sensors know that they can stop reading now).   

    We take a nice 14 mph leisurely jaunt up to the 1st hogback.  Dave
    and I are setting the pace which was probably a good pace considering
    the temps but my body wanted to do a bit more work to try and keep
    warm.  As we reach 34 I take the lead up to the base of the 1st
    hogback.   I figured that I would set a civil pace since I
    didn’t get to ride the trainer this week cause I got sick (Food
    poisoning I think) and ending up missing all of my workouts, not to
    mention a day of work. 

    So I am leading and Mark rolls up and mentions that his coaches plan
    for him was to do only a 1 hour workout and that he would be turning
    around after the 1st hogback.  With that, he walks off the front
    of the group.   I am somewhat surprised that no one tried to
    go with him.  Guess no-one wanted to test themselves against a
    young racer.   I am sure that Peter would have gone but I
    guess everyone waiting.   After then hair pin, Dave and Kent
    go around me and I jump in behind Kent.   Dave is keeping a
    good pace and I look around and everyone is together in a tight line
    and we summit in that order.

    Mark is waiting at the top and we bid him adieu as he turns back. 
    Takes discipline to follow a plan.  Perhaps someday we will be
    reading about Mark someday in the Velonews.  The Rock & Road
    team is hooked up with some good coaching and they have a proven track
    record.    Anyhow,  I  had slowed a bit after
    reaching Centennial but Dave and Kent were still moving.  I kinda
    hoped that they would slow a bit but it looks like they are going for
    the “King of the Hill” title in Peter’s absence.    Dave
    and Kent are about 20 yards up on me and I am slowing gaining ground on
    them.   There is plenty of hill left so I am not too
    worried.   I finally catch them and take their pace to try
    and recover a bit.

    Dave puts on a little bit of a surge, (We find out later he was trying
    to drop Kent).  Kent is unfazed and is still hanging on. 
    Kent them makes his move around Dave!  Looks like I have found
    myself in the middle of a minor skirmish.  I have recovered a bit
    I think (The Polar 720 is not working so I don’t know what my HR is
    ).   Anyway Kent and I get a gap on Dave and it is
    now clear that Kent wants the summit.  I can hear the cry of the
    warrior and remembering the bad habit I have of not taking enough of
    these hill figure I should attack.  With a wicked  surge I
    get a good gap on Kent!  I look back to see what kind of damage
    was done and it was clear that I would take this one!.  Life is
    good.   Kent, Dave, Paul, Bob and Glenn summit
    shortly.  The group is still fairly together and no real™ waiting
    is necessary.  This makes the ride much harder since we don’t get
    to stop and recover after these efforts.

    Kent takes the lead into the descent before that somewhat nasty
    intersection.  I know from past rides that Kent likes to get a
    good head start for that next ascent, so I keep him in check. 
    Kent and I with Dave not to far behind are on the climb.  I figure
    Kent doesn’t need to get this next summit either so I make sure to
    stamp my authority on this one too.

    We slow up a bit and regroup.  Paul and Bob go by Kent, Dave and
    myself with Glenn fairly close behind.  Paul and Bob are on the
    hill and it’s go time. I am able to catch Paul and Bob and the three of
    us have a gap on the passe.  Looks like Paul wants this summit.
    Well, as long as I am taking summits I might as well take this one
    too!  A quick sprint by Paul assures me of more “King of the Hill
    points”. We are now at the final descent going into Binghamhill road
    and decide to get some food chat etc.  This is where Dave mentions
    that he was trying to drop Kent.

    It is much colder than last week and I would have dressed warmer if I
    would have known.   Glenn removes his windbreaker pants which
    were covering his tights!  no wonder he was overheating on the
    hills.  The rest of us have various cold parts, hands, feet
    etc.   Without too much time taken we head down to
    Binghamhil.  Kent is 1st of course followed by me.  For some
    reason the bike was feeling sketchy today, hmmm ,maybe it was just the
    cold.  I hit only 48 mph on that one which is fast enough given
    the temperature.  

    We head up Binghamhill road with Kent and I setting the pace. After a
    bit It’s clear that Kent wants this summit.  Our pace is OK and I
    think Kents plan may be to get me in the sprint.  As we near the
    peak, I hear Dave and Glenn trying to steal some glory.  I alert
    Kent to this fact and we take off!  Damn I am in the litte ring
    and spinout while Kent takes this one!  Oh well,  At least I
    got 2nd which IHMO give me the “King of the Hill” title for the day.
      Now on to the Flats. We make the left at the end
    Bighmahill and I am sure that all are greatful to be off he hills.
     

    Seems like there is a bit of competitive sprirt beginning to form
    within the group.  Well,  since it’s all in good fun, it’s
    healthy. I don’t think it will get out of hand but we need to be
    congnizant of how the guyz carring the “Lantern Rouge” are feeling
    about all of this.  I don’t see any problems arising except
    perhaps folks deciding to train harder.    While I am
    making some observations.  I think that we may not  be aware
    how it looks to passing motorists when we stop and all of us are not on
    completely off the road.  I know when I am driving I don’t like
    seeing cyclists do this and if I don’t like it I can just image
    what  other non-cyclists are thinking.  Not to mention it’s
    against the law and unsafe. Nuff said about that…

    The flats are pretty much uneventful.   Bob  “Aka Bionic
    Bob” gets to the front of the line wth me behind him and just cranks up
    the pace!  I decide not to accellerate that hard.  The group
    ends up pacing him and we eventuallly catch up. Now if this were a race
    I sure would have gone with Bob but since I just wanted to go for easy
    accellerations I figured that reeling him in slow was OK.

    We wander about on the flats for a while.  There is a slight cross
    wind at times and some in the group are aware of this and are finding
    the sweet spot ala echelon.   The winds were subtle but
    noticeable.  I think before the next Sunday ride I will say
    something about echelons and pacelining.   
    Anyway,  Bob points out this strange low lying weather  cloud
    to the South.  Didn’t think too much of it at the time but this
    was to change.   The temps were dropping but not to bad yet!

    As we hit Rt 257 going south the Temperatures begin to drop rapidly as
    we entered this strange weather front,  34, 32, 30 27  Ouch.
      There was moisture in the air and icycles had begun to form
    on my beard and mustach.  Man this cold sucks!  We decide to
    cut the ride short and take Harmony West.    But this
    time thie cold is getting to me and my legs are getting tired from my
    earlier efforts. On top of that I needed to “take a wiz” which made it
    hard to focus on pacelining.  At One point I was behind the
    paceline for a while with a good gap.  One thing I want to point
    out here is if you are pulling off the pace line and see a gap on the
    way back, by all means jump in there if the next person is “way to far
    back”.  Now if you want to go back to the end behind that person
    that has fallen off, that’s fine but keep in mind that you may be
    setting yourself up to be dropped!

    A bit later we cross 25 and Glenn and I decide to start the cool
    down.  Paul and Kent and Dave are  ¼ mile ahead or so and
    contesting that grade in front of HP.   I see them make the
    right on Zeigler.  Bob who is now with us head down Harmony as
    Glenn and I make the left.  Paul who was aready on Zeigher comes
    back to ride with us to cool down.

    It was about 46 miles at 16.3 mph.  A good time was had by all.

    ---------------------- 1/18/04 Dave writes in an email --------------------
     Me: It was so cold this morning ...

    You: How cold was it?

    Me: It was so cold that my water bottle got brittle and broke when I
    squeezed it to drink.

    When it happened, I thought there was some ice in the bottle and that I
    was breaking the ice (better than breaking wind, I suppose), but when I
    got home and took a drink from the bottle after I had warmed up enough
    that my brain was working properly, I saw that there is an inch-long
    break in the bottle about half-way down.

    Time for new bottles, I guess. And here I thought they were
    indestructible.

    >>Dave