After the usual pleasantries and pre ride accolades we rolled out at a nice civil pace on Markwood Rd.
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| Photo: Charlottesville Racing Club pb Blue Ridge Cyclery |
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| Plassmido's point of view |
The riders were spreading out and then some jerk in a station wagon starts bearing down on the us and is not driving safe at all, trying to bully his way past. The driver was waving his or her hands in disbelief and rage. Hey but nugget, it's a back country road, you need to chill before you hurt someone.
Toddy G. mentions to me that we are probably at the tail end of the lead group… I said “Yeah, but we are at the front end of the fun group”.
We got further into the gravel back roads and hit the first real climb that leads to a fire road descent. We were greeted by the very enthusiastic cheer squad, one guy wearing just a jock strap (mind you it's about freezing).
After cresting the climb and recovering from the image of a nearly naked man I started bombing down the fire road turns. I noticed a guy on a blue pivot passing me and taking the corners pretty fast, I sped up a bit to keep him in range. The gravel was pretty dicey, a bit slick with moisture and some sections loose pebble like top cover. I backed off and watched the other rider bombing into nearly blind corners on the inside line, a bit to risky for my tastes.
Then we turned onto Browns Gap Turnpike and I mentally put it back into high gear and started pounding the pavement... looking to catch a fast train. After working with a few groups, a pretty solid pace line developed and moved out towards mission home. We picked up Tom Haines and kept it moving.
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| Now that's a Rook, checkmate |
We turned left onto the major climb up Simmons Gap. I was having trouble getting my water bottle into my jacket pocket and luckily got a hand from a fellow rider. My jacket was stuffed full of bottles, extra gloves, food…
I fell off the back of the group a bit on this climb as I struggled to much down on a cliff bar. Later, as I finally worked my way to the top of the climb, I was glad I had got the extra energy I needed from the brick of nutrition.
As I neared the top I fumbled with my jacket zipper. Lack of hand dexterity can be so frustrating when your claws are dumbed down by clown gloves.
I opened up suspension, dropped into the fire road descent, and at the 1st major turn... Drama! A rider who was running back up the hill flagged me down, I saw why in a moment as I came up to where another rider had tossed it and was laying nearly motionless on the ground.
I quickly tried to assess his condition:
Was there any blood? Not really.
Any body parts pointing the wrong way? Nope.
I told him to keep calm and just stay where he is...
Next I make sure his bike was off the road, hey it's that blue pivot from before...
Alright, I start asking him concussion questions:
What day is it... “Saturday”.. Nope
Who's the president... “Where are we?” Pantani ride, easy just relax...
“Are we in a race?”... Pantani ride. Dude, I think you got Knocked out
OK help is arriving... I tell the help that it looks like he got a concussion...
Ok, so we have the unofficial winner of the Pantani KTFO
Soon I was back on the bike and taking the descent with a bit more in reserve than before. Dropping down the descent was super cold and stripped almost all warmth from my body. On the connecting paved road section between the bottom and Broken Back Mountain road I was freezing, My hands burned from the cold. I tried to stay as aero as I can to keep the cold from getting into my core. I took some relief knowing that clawing my way up Broken Back Mountain would heat me up like a stove.
The climb up broken back is always steeper and longer than I remember. I guess you block those things out of your good memories of a ride. Then, finally it eases up. There is slight reprieve before you face a gravel wall on the way back up to the top of Simmons Gap.
Sweet! There's a PBR hand up at the top, it's never tasted so good!
Next up was the loooong fast descent all the way down back down Simmons Gap Rd. and the completion of the lollipop.
I met up with a rider at the intersection who needed confirmation on which way to turn. We worked together and traded pulls all the way back to Markwood Rd.
I popped off the back just a bit on Markwood, but still managed to keep the other rider in my sights, maybe 30 seconds back the rest of the way back to Allen Dr.
When I rolled in I found Tom H. and Joe Fish recovering in Tom’s Honda Pilot and I jump into the warmth. Chocolate milk followed by a peanut butter banana sandwich. Then the icing on the cake, a nice strong IPA. Awesome ride!
As usual, my body was pretty tired and I was left hungry… hungry for the next big ride!
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