met at the Colonial at 8:00. There was a rider at the light waiting to
cross Northern, sporting a Saxo Bank Burgerdeluxe... make that
Louxembourger Schleck jersey (I forget which brother, I could swear I
saw one then the other wearing the Louxembourg road champion jersey on
different races). As Greg and I stopped at the Colonial to meet Shrek,
Bourgerdeluxe just kept going. Shrek was ready to roll, so we didn't
waste any time and headed out. We caught up with Bourgerdeluxe yet
again at the LIE. He took off, while we waited a few minutes for the T
group.
As they eventually rolled by, we jumped onto the rear to get
comfortable with the group and catch up on our own BS. The pace is
always easy initially, until we start hitting the rollers. That's when
you start seeing who in the larger group you really want to hang with.
As we reached Jericho I spotted Bourgerdeluxe near the front. He was
obviously absorbed. I decided to wait and see how he did, before I
invited him to join our club, since he came right out of GN, but
hadn't bothered to try be social, even though he had ample
opportunities. In the end I just lost sight off him, as I was working
to keep with the fast front bunch.
Speaking of which, Greg, as is his custom, whined something at the
start of the ride about not wanting to go too hard or long, to save
himself for tomorrow's century. Anyone who knows Greg, already knows
that he's fooling no one with his misplaced tentativeness. An
appropriate nickname for Greg would be one that describes someone or
something that wants to appear non-threatening, but will take you down
with little effort at the first opportunity, like a tame-looking house-
cat that turns out to be a tiger in disguise. Any suggestions? How
about Ninja?
Getting back to our ride, the entire group appeared to stay together
after reaching the wall. Greg and I kept near the front, while Shrek
stayed closer to the back I think. We went down Woodbury Road toward
108. At the light someone in front wasn't paying too close attention
to incoming traffic and almost got run over. The driver stopped,
everyone else hesitated and I suddenly found myself right in front
pulling the whole group down 108. It was very satisfying to pull
almost the entire length of 108 without being passed. Eventually I
started feeling the burn in my legs and, predictably, a half-dozen
guys passed me. I just ducked back into the first gap. Didn't want to
get caught at the rear.
By the time we finished riding through Cold Spring and Turkey we were
down to about about 15-20 and Shrek had been dropped. Back to 108,
then Stillwell and Syosset. A large contingent peeled off to stop at
the 7-11, while a half-dozen of us kept going down Muttontown. I found
myself pulling again for a good part of that stretch. On Wolver Hollow
we came across a flooded patch of road. We just rode very slowly down
the middle of the road where the water was shallowest. Our pedals
didn't get wet. More fast pacelining brought us back to the LIE via
Wheatley. I told Greg about the sprint race finish that I knew would
come at the end, but he chose to skip that and turn off at Lakeville.
I did my best to position myself for the sprint — I figured 4th wheel
— and to guess which wheel would be the best one to draft. One more
guy peeled off to go home and I know Greg wasn't in the running. It
was down to me and 4 other guys. After the last traffic light, at
Lakeville the already fast pace quickened some more and I found myself
3rd wheel, struggling to hang on the next roller. After we crested,
the pace eased up again and I got a chance to rest a bit. I saw the
last roller up ahead, much tamer than the previous. I tried really
hard not to go too early, but I couldn't help myself. Even though I
knew two guys were marking me from behind, I did my best to bolt as
hard as I could, in hope of dropping them.
In the end I only dropped the two I was drafting behind and I was
overtaken by the two behind me. Still, I'm slowly getting better at
this. Perhaps, if keep at it, and get lucky, I just might win one of
these sprints some day. My stats at that point were 47 miles at 18.5
average.
Beast
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