Tuesday the 14th, Con't...

Steve B was not going to be caught, and everyone knew it.

For some reason, a couple of the Magenta guys persisted in riding as though there was a need to defend the gap and discourage the chase. The pace turned silly-lazy for a while. The competitive element of the ride was over at that point. There were no more sprints to take. No more points to give out.

Everyone rolled thru the detour in orderly fashion. The speed picked up a bit going down Blacks Rd but that was gravity talking. As everyone made the right-hander to get back on course before the Greenhouse climb, Steve B came charging by, determined to create Gap2.0. 

Seems he did the normal route, riding thru the road construction and then back at the breakaway until meeting the shortcutting peleton. At this point everyone was throttled down and piddling (pittling?) along and so Steve rolled off and up the sprint climb alone.

At the bottom of the climb, Chris C was apparently done with his extended recovery interval, got fed up with the "blocking" antics, and yelled at Brian O to move out of the way so that those who would actually like to ride bikes could do so. Brian nodded in acknowledgement with his dominant butt-cheek but didn't quite relent either. That continued up the climb at an impressive 250w until Chris went out of his way to push, curb, or ride Brian O into the yellow line. Only problem is a car was oncoming. The car had to brake, hit the horn, and Brian had to do a bit of evasive maneuvering. 

That started the shouting match between Chris C and the CW guys. Thank goodness everyone was rolling forward or else they'd be punches thrown. 

Oh wait, there were punches "thrown" anyway. As the two jawed, Brian may or may not have taken a swing at Chris C. And then he may have tried to crash Chris in a subsequent corner. 

That's how it ended up. Sure the pace got going near the finish and there was some sprinting at the end, but it was all over-shadowed by the dust up that should have never happened. 

Steve B racked up 5 points for definitely being the first to the Greenhouse climb, regardless of the route he took, and 2 bonus points for not getting a flat in the gravel construction section. 

 

Tuesday the 14th

 Men Turned to Boys on Their Pedal Bikes

Good weather = another good turnout for the ride. Which got started normally, and without much fuss. Turner F rolled off the front on South Brooksvale and no one cared to go with. Once he got a bit of a gap the magenta guys took up the front but there was little urgency from the rest. 

Furner turned onto Mountain Road (where the ride usually gets spicy) with a 150-200 meter gap. Eventually the chase started behind. Dan S kicked it off, then Jon Fecik. Sean M had a big pull at the front that kept TF in sight. All the same, he would get to the light on 68 fifteen sec ahead of everyone else, which was enough to get thru the light. The rest had to stop for a moment or two. 

Onto Moss Farms where CVC keep up the pace with some help from Fecik, Hunter P, Rusty, Cedric B, and a couple of others. Turfner had a line-drive's worth of a gap turning onto Marion. Sean M took another big dig with Ben Bruce, Brian Oliver, and Hunter P right there. That got the pace going up and gap coming down. Sean Cahill was lurking near the front and as soon as there was a lull in the chase, jumped into the gap, taking only the strongest 3 or 4 with him. Those would get up to Turnef with a couple hundred meters to the light but it was red, bringing everyone back together once more. 

Onto Mount Vernon, where there were a few groups and attacks and moves off the front. More often than not it was CW busting something out with a couple of others, leaving CVC to chase. Tommy K's Video, Little T, Chris C, and Sean M all getting involved in trying to bridge, chase, counter. Getting onto Welch, Sean M would lead a group of 5 or 6 off the front. Chris Brits, Brian Oliver, Noah B and a couple of others would turn onto West St pushing hard. They opened up a small gap as the sprinters (Little T, Hunter P and TunerFun) sized up the next 30 seconds. Brian O was not waiting, and he took off alone for the sprint line. He would get it in front of Noah and Chris Brits. 

On the backside it all came back together once again. The group got caught at a couple of the lights by I84 and as everyone was ramping up to get going after stopping for one, Steve B had a good jump and launched it. No one was in a position to go with him, and he would get green at the light by Jude Ln. The pack had to stop again. 

That would be all Steve B would need.

Or would it!?
Tune in next time for another episode of As the Pedals Turn