It might be a bit too warm for some later in the day, but it’s darned near perfect the past couple of Tuesday & Thursdays at 7:45am at Olive Hill & Canada Road. Strange to think how much cooler, cold even, it’s going to be in just a few weeks time. But for now, 62 degrees at the start, maybe up to the mid-70s by the time we get to “the other side” and you really can’t complain.
The regulars included Mike R, Eric, Chris, Marcos & John, with newer-guy Ludo (I think he rode with us once before?) and Harry, someone I see fairly often at the shop and did our ride some time ago (if I recall correctly). Harry wasn’t sure about his speed up the hill so I suggested he leave a bit before us, and since it was 7:43 by the time he headed out, I wasn’t going to be much of a lead so I expected to see him pretty quickly. The rest of us left exactly on time (verified by the GPS-enabled Garmin computer on my bike), as we always do. The fast guys took no prisoners this morning until waiting up for the rest of us at the park entrance (1/4 of the way up).
And Harry? I didn’t see Harry until just below the final steep part of the hill, same place we saw the deer on Tuesday. He’s riding very well these days; I’m just thankful that he isn’t in the growing club of riders older than I am who are also faster. Yet. He could get there soon. For today, he took honors for being the senior member of the tribe at 56, with me a couple years behind.
The run down west-side 84 was a bit different than normal as the off-shore breeze kicked our speed up from the usual 29-31mph to as much as 38 at one point. But the most amazing display of speed was on the return through Woodside, when Chris went to the front and powered up to 29mph on Tripp Road. It was all I could do to hang onto his wheel, but I kept reminding myself that it’s much harder trying to keep up if I let go of the wheel than it is if I stay close behind him. Earlier he had taken me on the Sky Londa sprint, and for the finale I didn’t even contest it, he just rode away long before we got there.
