Saturday
There were six of us to start yesterday's century ride, my 12th of the year. Roy, Miller, Jimmy, Galloway, and Rand were the other riders, though only Miller and Roy would complete the century with me. Galloway didn't want more, and Rand and Jimmy were going to do BAIL (Bike Across Illinois) today. I would have joined them, but after months of trying to pry details out of Jimmy (the ride was his idea after all), I finally gave up. Even as we were unloading bikes yesterday for the ride, Jimmy let me know the ride had been moved to the next day (Sunday). I just don't roll like that. Plans were set.
So Galloway, Rand, and Jimmy rode with us for around 22 miles, then split off. They turned right on 337, we went left. I asked Miller and Roy if they wanted to head to Livonia, turn left on 56 and head to Salem, then south on 135 to Palmyra. I'd never done the course this way, so I wasn't precisely sure of the distances. It sounded close, and it was a plan. The winds were light and variable, a complete non-factor in whatever plans we set.
The ride to Livonia was exactly as you would expect. I suggested to Roy he get into aero as his Ironman was going to include large portions of his race where he would need to ride down. Might as well practice the position. I pulled us out to the county line, we eased into Livonia, then it was onto Salem.
Roy took this leg, doing a marvelous job. The first few miles of the 10 are the toughest, with a bit of climbing, but after that the road flattens out and is beautiful. The road is wide and clean, and traffic was no problem at all. I will be seeing a lot more of this road this summer.
In Salem we took some side streets to avoid downtown, headed south to the 60/135 intersection, then south out of town. This was probably the hardest part of the ride, as the first 3 miles have long hills. Again, once past this point the road does flatten out, and it's a great ride. We saw about 5 miles of it before we turned. No, Palmyra was not in the cards. That would have put us in the neighborhood of 115-120 miles, more than those guys had time to do. We'll save that for another day.
We stopped at Wendy's for lunch, then it was back to 56. Once again Roy took the lead (after we fixed his flat), and he did a great pull to Livonia. I took the pull again on 337, and with that we'd lopped off a huge section of the ride.
The one thing of note... Jimmy and I have discussed over the last few times we've been on 337 the Lost River segment. We've never acted on taking it, but today I decided to throw it out there before we hit it. The plan was for me to do the lead out, with Miller passing me about halfway up. It worked to perfection. I carried us in over 30 mph, then he did the rest. I came in a few seconds after him for #2 on the list. That's not bad considering we were 80 miles into the ride by then.
The rest of the ride was uneventful. Miller had to go right home, but Roy and I ran 3 miles. Roy kept pushing the pace though, and we wound up much faster than we planned. No harm no foul, and when we finished, the day was done.
Sunday
Today's ride was with the Burr-eye. Lester and Allen met me at the church, and we did a tour of the southern parts of Orange county. I bored them with talks of Facebook arguments. I accused Allen of being Amos Yoder, and his tell-tale smirk when I brought it up convicted him beyond his ability to raise objections, though he offered copious amounts. He's caught, and that's that.
We did have a dog incident. South of Orleans we passed a family cookout, and their precious, precious pitbull ran playfully (read: flashed in full-attack mode) towards Allen's luscious calf. Can't blame the dog really, that thing must look quite a bit like a drumstick, but the only thing that saved Allen was the dog seeing Lester, and the surprised look on the dog's face betrayed it. In slow motion I could see where it was going to end up. I was third in the line, a bit to the left, and the dog was backing away from Lester to the left. You guess it - the dog was right in front of me with no opportunity for me to miss. This, my friends, is a rerun! I hit the dog - nothing else to do - and I felt it go under the wheels. The dog made no sound, just looked surprised. The owners, to their credit, were trying to chase after the animal, and I actually called up, "Sorry, I hit your dog". "No problem!" they yelled back.
Poor dog. If only someone could rescue it. ;)
There were other altercations. A line of farmers were coming at us from the opposing lane, and right before I passed the tractor it suddenly veered into my path, turning left into his property. "Not a very smart move" I called to the guy. The vehicles behind him attempted to crowd in too - what were they thinking? The guy in the truck behind the tractor started shaking his head at me. What the heck did he expect? The farmer on the tractor didn't signal, and I clearly had the right of way. They were behaving like idiots, for sure.
So I wound up short of 200 on the bike, short of 30 on the run for the week, but in a week's time I've also raced twice and ridden 100 miles. That would be good enough for most, I think.
I plan to run, ride, and swim tomorrow. Details are still being hashed out.
There were six of us to start yesterday's century ride, my 12th of the year. Roy, Miller, Jimmy, Galloway, and Rand were the other riders, though only Miller and Roy would complete the century with me. Galloway didn't want more, and Rand and Jimmy were going to do BAIL (Bike Across Illinois) today. I would have joined them, but after months of trying to pry details out of Jimmy (the ride was his idea after all), I finally gave up. Even as we were unloading bikes yesterday for the ride, Jimmy let me know the ride had been moved to the next day (Sunday). I just don't roll like that. Plans were set.
So Galloway, Rand, and Jimmy rode with us for around 22 miles, then split off. They turned right on 337, we went left. I asked Miller and Roy if they wanted to head to Livonia, turn left on 56 and head to Salem, then south on 135 to Palmyra. I'd never done the course this way, so I wasn't precisely sure of the distances. It sounded close, and it was a plan. The winds were light and variable, a complete non-factor in whatever plans we set.
The ride to Livonia was exactly as you would expect. I suggested to Roy he get into aero as his Ironman was going to include large portions of his race where he would need to ride down. Might as well practice the position. I pulled us out to the county line, we eased into Livonia, then it was onto Salem.
Roy took this leg, doing a marvelous job. The first few miles of the 10 are the toughest, with a bit of climbing, but after that the road flattens out and is beautiful. The road is wide and clean, and traffic was no problem at all. I will be seeing a lot more of this road this summer.
In Salem we took some side streets to avoid downtown, headed south to the 60/135 intersection, then south out of town. This was probably the hardest part of the ride, as the first 3 miles have long hills. Again, once past this point the road does flatten out, and it's a great ride. We saw about 5 miles of it before we turned. No, Palmyra was not in the cards. That would have put us in the neighborhood of 115-120 miles, more than those guys had time to do. We'll save that for another day.
We stopped at Wendy's for lunch, then it was back to 56. Once again Roy took the lead (after we fixed his flat), and he did a great pull to Livonia. I took the pull again on 337, and with that we'd lopped off a huge section of the ride.
The one thing of note... Jimmy and I have discussed over the last few times we've been on 337 the Lost River segment. We've never acted on taking it, but today I decided to throw it out there before we hit it. The plan was for me to do the lead out, with Miller passing me about halfway up. It worked to perfection. I carried us in over 30 mph, then he did the rest. I came in a few seconds after him for #2 on the list. That's not bad considering we were 80 miles into the ride by then.
The rest of the ride was uneventful. Miller had to go right home, but Roy and I ran 3 miles. Roy kept pushing the pace though, and we wound up much faster than we planned. No harm no foul, and when we finished, the day was done.
Sunday
Today's ride was with the Burr-eye. Lester and Allen met me at the church, and we did a tour of the southern parts of Orange county. I bored them with talks of Facebook arguments. I accused Allen of being Amos Yoder, and his tell-tale smirk when I brought it up convicted him beyond his ability to raise objections, though he offered copious amounts. He's caught, and that's that.
We did have a dog incident. South of Orleans we passed a family cookout, and their precious, precious pitbull ran playfully (read: flashed in full-attack mode) towards Allen's luscious calf. Can't blame the dog really, that thing must look quite a bit like a drumstick, but the only thing that saved Allen was the dog seeing Lester, and the surprised look on the dog's face betrayed it. In slow motion I could see where it was going to end up. I was third in the line, a bit to the left, and the dog was backing away from Lester to the left. You guess it - the dog was right in front of me with no opportunity for me to miss. This, my friends, is a rerun! I hit the dog - nothing else to do - and I felt it go under the wheels. The dog made no sound, just looked surprised. The owners, to their credit, were trying to chase after the animal, and I actually called up, "Sorry, I hit your dog". "No problem!" they yelled back.
Poor dog. If only someone could rescue it. ;)
There were other altercations. A line of farmers were coming at us from the opposing lane, and right before I passed the tractor it suddenly veered into my path, turning left into his property. "Not a very smart move" I called to the guy. The vehicles behind him attempted to crowd in too - what were they thinking? The guy in the truck behind the tractor started shaking his head at me. What the heck did he expect? The farmer on the tractor didn't signal, and I clearly had the right of way. They were behaving like idiots, for sure.
So I wound up short of 200 on the bike, short of 30 on the run for the week, but in a week's time I've also raced twice and ridden 100 miles. That would be good enough for most, I think.
I plan to run, ride, and swim tomorrow. Details are still being hashed out.
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