Tuesday, December 8, 2009
State Champion(s) Victory Lap Ride?
Who is up for a ride this evening? Like last Thursday, when Jeff Z took us for a Merry Light Parade, "they" are predicting snow again tonight. Should be a good night for a ride. I've got the lights charging and the SS rolling again for tonight. Monster gear through the slush... either I'll break it or it'll break me! See you bastards out there!
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I'm back in town and will be there tonight!
ReplyDeleteOut tonight, school event...
ReplyDeleteIf I'm not there by go time, roll without me. Not looking like I'm going to make it....
ReplyDeleteNot for me tonight. Will be there Thursday.
ReplyDeleteI'm out. It's a week of concerts and eating fests.
ReplyDeleteSmall crowd tonight: Dave G., Larry & myself (its Tony not Nanette. Having some issues with Google!). We opted for the big north loop. Roads were a little slick, Larry and I took a slider together early on the ride then after letting some air out managed to keep things upright. Highlight was when an opossum with an apple in his mouth made a dash right at Dave. He took a tumble after running into a Dave’s shoe, dropped his apple then made it across the road! Few deer here and there and plenty of snow in the air by the home stretch.
ReplyDeleteThree of us made the loop tonight. Myself, Tony (on a MTB tonight... I guess his cross rig is still sloppy from this past weekend), and Big Kahuna Larry.
ReplyDeleteGot a little confusing at the start gate as a bunch of Shugah's friends were in the lot waiting for more to show up before their go time... only there was no Shugah to lead them. Never fear though, they took care of it themselves. They were milling about and several of them started to roll out and up the hills. We (Larry, Tony, and myself) got our stuff together and proceeded to follow them about after about 2-3 minutes. Only problem was there were still two of them in the lot getting their stuff together. We passed most of them between Giles and Tiffany and one started to panic that somehow they had lost two riders already. A quick confirmation that they were still in the lot had them circling the wagons to regroup. We continued onward.
We did the north loop tonight. For the most part the roads were in good shape and not too sloppy from the rain earlier today. Larry learned a quick lesson in tire pressure before we got to Belding Road, when he nailed his first slider on an icing over stretch of road. Almost picked himself up a spare to boot as he took Tony down with him and if I had looked behind me when I heard him start to slide, I probably would have been gone, too! Oh well... I guess he'll just have to settle for that dreaded 7-10 split.
Once we got his pressure lowered a bit, his tires seemed to bite better and we didn't have much of an issue with traction after that.
For all the threat of "lake effect snows" we found the wind to be coming from the WRONG direction. The head wind that we battled going East along Witten, 13Mile, 12Mile, and 10Mile was brutal. If I tried to get low to duck the wind, I couldn't get the power to push the bigger gear and felt like I was getting blow backwards. At least standing I was able to hold my own and not lose much ground! But when we finally made the turn home on 7 Mile at the south end of Ashley, the tailwind was a welcome relief!
We did have several deer sightings and I had a close run-in with a varmint climbing Ashley up toward 8 Mile. As my glasses had fogged over as I struggled up the hill, I thought I saw something quickly come into my peripheral vision. All of a sudden it felt like I had this big fur ball against my left foot as I push the down stroke and I hear a little "Yip!" and it's gone. I wasn't even sure that it was there in the first place and thought maybe it was just me hallucinating. Come to find out, Tony was behind me and saw this pesky 'Possum come scampering out of the woods with a big apple in his mouth, he hits me (or I hit him... your pick), Tony sees something red fly through the air, and "poof" the 'Possum is gone again. He didn't know if I had run the thing over or what.
No road kill though, so officially no one died on the ride!
The snow started to come down harder as we made our way back to the cars. And it looks like some of the meteorologists forecasts were right. We'll see how Thursday shapes up and see if they're right.
Good ride. Good Times. But I think Winter is almost here....
Well, the newbie had to get it out of his system. Someone had to take the first slider. Nice to get it out of the way early with minimal damage! Thanks for the pressure lesson (who knew the insert will fallout of the stem when it's frozen!). With my new pressure I was able to keep the rubber under my FA the rest of the night. I took stock when I got home, 2 nice raspberries, swollen hand and a interesting bruise on my back, could it have been Tony's contribution or payback for taking him down with my brilliant move?? Hope you fared better Tony.
ReplyDeleteSnow wind and fog was blinding, spent most of the night following Dave's tracks and small fur balls left behind in the snow. The Possum lost his meal when I hit the apple and smashed it. I'm sure he is pissed and will be watching for us the next time!
Thanks for the companionship, looking forward to next week.
Surley, why can't I blog, and only post a comment?
I also got an inner chuckle from some of the MTB guys that were commenting about "if something happens to me and I don't make it out of this ride alive, be sure to work the phrase 'Crazy Bastard' in on my tombstone". I commented that there would be plenty of time to discuss epitaphs back at the bar post-ride. The important thing would be to make sure that they scavenged as many useable parts off his rig before it iced over and they left him for dead.... which also got a good laugh. yes... we can be a heartless bunch! :)
ReplyDeleteNo cars left in the lot upon our return, so I presume they made it all back safely. I saw several of their vehicles at the HCI as I drove past on the way back home.
I stopped by the HCI to see if they were all alive. Yes they were there, warm and well lubricated! sounded like they took the easy way home!
ReplyDeleteif you liked tuesday then thursday's ride looks even more fun...60mph and blinding snow with drifts...a truly CB night....not even the possum will be out...
ReplyDelete