We are preparing for the ADA Tour de Cure that will take place tomorrow, Sunday, 7 June 2009, by loading up on the carbs and proceeding with the taper.
Tapering is engaged. I feel ready. Here is the route, in case you plan on joinng us, or simply want to view the planned ride.
All the way to Hadley, NY, then turn south.
Two years ago the Tour de Cure was a lot of fun. The weather was cool, the route was OK, and it was undertaken with guys who stuck together. The mini-peloton included Clickn Knee on the Bianchi, TiMan, and Juan Filkinos. Great team. We started out in Stillwater or Saratoga Springs, headed north along the Hudson River in the early morning. The weather was calm, no wind, and the river was beautiful. I managed to grunt and push to the front where there was a crew of State Police bike team dudes sailing along. In the group, one feels no wind, and you can hear only the spinning of sprockets, changing of gears when the slope changes.
TiMan warned me that these guys can roll all day and never stop for water, so we dropped off the pace at Argyle, had some chow, took a leak, then moved over the table for a chat with the volunteers. The Bianchi whipped past. 'Let's go get him!' was the rallying cry, so off we went.
On we went through little burgs moving north to the turn-around point and a noticeable degradation in the pavement. In 2008 this is where the flats sprouted up. We were having none of it until . . . ffft .. ffft .. ffft we all heard the sound of air escaping from a tire going around.
We slow to stop and engage the quick-fix-the-flat dance. Bike on ground. Wheel off the frame. Hands pushing down hard, running round the rim, pulling the tire and tube off the rim.
Someone flips Juan the spare innertube and someone inspects the innert surface of the tire to make sure the offending piece of glass or sharp metal object isn't still stuck in flat-producing position.
Soon it's all reassembled and someone's loosened a pump from its perch and is pumping it up, checking for proper seating before going all the way to 8 bar pressure.
There is a short pause while everyone puts helmets back on, picks up assortment of plastic tools, pumps, caps, and nuts, zipping shut the little repair kit bags underneath seats, and clips back in.
Done is good time; when everyone helps, it's kinda fun.
We can see the mountains in Vermont nearby here and the weather is gradually warming up. An enjoyable ride so far. Soon we have managed to catch up to the Bianchi, we say hi, gather him into the peloton, and spin back up.
By now it's approaching mile 80 and we're no longer so chatty. The work is wearing on us a bit, and I drop a piece of watermelon off the stack I take -- it hits the gazebo deck in Greenwich, was it?, I felt like a dope. A tired dope.
We saw Chris W. and Rachel there. Mounted up and moved on home. I don't think we stopped until the end. . . repeating to ourselves, 'this is just a noon time ride -- that's all that remains -- yeah, not much at all!' Talking to ourselves, building our courage, cause it had already been a good 4 and a half hours at that point.
So we finished in 5 h 35 m roughly. A good time.
We were happy to be done.
The Mile 80 Stare. The mid-distance, about the focal plane yardage used to make sure you don't run over something in the road.
Absorbing liquids.
Thinking about philosophical implications of wailing on pedals from 7 am until nearly 1 pm, while mere mortals stared from inside passing cars and trucks.
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