Crane Ride

Yes, that's Rand on his new Airfoil. It's blue, as was reported, and it looked pretty sharp. We'll have to work on Rand's outfit - it wasn't quite the perfect match, though it was obvious there was an attempt. I think the helmet will have to be upgraded too.

Initially I dubbed the bike "Bigfoot", mainly because sightings had been as scarce as the namesake. After I thought about it, and after the maiden flight, I think "Blue Angel" would be better. Both are sleek aircraft that have a habit of inexplicably flying into the ground.

This is most of the starting group. From left are Lori, Mike, Tim, Jamie, Allen, John T., Dan, Rand, Ken, and Jason Mathis tucked in. We also spotted Sipless Seidle, Alpha Chris, and even Roger the Philosopher (from Sullivan).

Hooking up with everyone was simple, the base was an excellent place to stage, and other than the overly long opening ceremonies, it was a good start.

We hadn't gone two miles before the first two wrecks happened. The pace was slow, so the only logical conclusion is the incomplete paving of the road resulted in some folks getting unseated when they crossed the pave line. One lady in particular was cradling her wrist in the tell-tale fashion of a broken limb.

It started to get hot from the jump, and I don't just mean temps. First, Sipless charged up the first hill as fast as he could go. His buddy Kelly commented it was a long day and too early to get that attitude. John T. bit, and that was the last we saw of John T. The rest of us had planned to ride together all day, and that's exactly what we did. It was Rand's first outdoor ride of the year, and Dan's longest ride. It was going to be hot, so it paid to be wise.

The second hotness happened when Allen began channeling his inner Jimmy. He made an ill-timed attempt at musical expression, breaking into the chorus of "Fat Bottomed Girls" at precisely the wrong time. It was a loud chorus, loud enough for the lady 15 yards up the road to nearly stop dead in her tracks and turn to see the musician. After topping the hill, I called out, "Nice job, Mary". I didn't know her, it was that the race directors had provided everyone with a throwback license plate with our names on them. Cool really, as it allowed you to encourage riders by name.

Anyway, she didn't say, "thanks", she said, "who is that?!" Mike, thinking she meant him, said, "Me?"
"No. HIM!", she said, emphatically pointing at Allen. If I had any doubt before she'd heard him, this removed all doubt. We rode on.

We didn't go fast at all, barely breaking 11 mph for the first 18 miles. After a longish break, I considered our time. Something would have to change, because the math wasn't going to add up. We had around 5 hours or so to run 65 miles. At this rate we would run short of time. The stops would have to get shorter, we'd have to ride faster, or both.

Fortunately for us, the speed did pick up. I watched Dan and Rand, and they held up pretty nicely. The climbs were a challenge I'm sure, as they were longish, but they weren't crazy steep. Strunk looked good on them all day, as did Allen and Mike. I don't think I saw anyone stand on their pedals, even once.

Eventually we did arrive at what was termed "Dead Rand's Curve". I can see why he went off the road. The last bend in the road would have been hard to see, and by the time you did, it would be way too late. I was talking to Scott Johnson, event director, and he said a guy broke his bike up today going off in that same spot. Eventually, someone's going to get killed.

Rand didn't avoid crashing altogether. We were late into the ride, climbing a steepish hill, when Rand decided to look where he didn't want to go. This was off road, and once his wheel slipped off, he hit the ground. Fortunately it was a zero-speed crash, and he avoided all serious damage to himself and his new bike.

Despite not having Jimmy, there was plenty of singing. I broke into a verse of "YMCA" that had Strunk clutching his chest on a long climb. Some poor fellow wearing a YMCA jersey was walking his bike up the hill. After asking if he was okay and had everything he needed and getting the nod, I went into something like:

Young man,
Put your bike in low ring
I said, young man
Get back up on that thing
You can climb here
If you pedal real hard
If you do, you'll, get, your man card

That's not precisely it, but you get the idea.

Other things of note:

• The Barnes Mobile was there. It's a stair stepper vehicle. Interesting part of it is it contains the solution to my adult Big Wheel concept - the front axle. More on this another post. 
• We saw wildlife! One black snake and one bald eagle. 
• Jame wrecked! She went off the road at mile 18 of 30 and had to be carted in. She's fine, but it's a shame she couldn't finish. 

There will be a run tomorrow morning, 8 AM. There will also be a ride at 2 PM, Lighthouse.