Re: Columbus Day Weekend, First Half

I knew you'd say that.  ;-)

Seriously, though, you should have been there. It was quite a rush.

On Oct 11, 2010, at 9:44 PM, Robert Leighton wrote:

So now we're not "The Right Group"??? :-(

 

 

Only kidding!

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Oriel Mor [mailto:oriel61@gmail.com] 
Sent: Saturday, October 09, 2010 11:33 PM
To: Isaac Seinuk; Arthur Finkel; northshorerenegades.chainring@blogger.com; Jae Cho; David J. Shereck; David Wargin; Anita Christofferson; Barry Feirstein; Greg Keller; Gus Condiles; George Uribe; Bill Eisenberg; Robert Leighton; Mitchel Lang; Larry Nipon; Todd Manas; Jan Lemerman; Yihao Ou
Subject: Columbus Day Weekend, First Half

 

Late Thursday night. I get a cryptic, coded email from Big A. I can't 

fully understand all of it, but I understand enough. Trail ride Friday 

morning. Sounds good enough for me and I respond affirmatively.

 

I haven't touched my mountain bike in many months. Better check it 

first. I pump my tires (they're almost flat), lube my chain (it sticks 

when pedaling backwards), check the shifting (not great, but does what 

it needs to do without falling apart), suspension feels right. Good 

enough to ride. I love the way my dual suspension works on the trail. 

I tried a single-speed 29er once. I still like my rider better, with 

its standard 26ers.

 

Turns out we're meeting the DTC (Day Time Crew, our MTB riding group 

out east) at Rocky Point (exit 66 on the LIE + 10 minutes north), for 

a double loop, about 30-35 miles in total, mostly flat. They're 

planning a training ride for the "Triple Crown," a ride consisting of 

liking together three of the usual trail parks in that area of 

Suffolk: Glacier Ridge, East Setauket and Cathedral Pines. I would 

consider joining it, but it's the same day as our planned Port Jeff 

near century.

 

I had only been to RP once before, a few years ago, and really enjoyed 

it. This park is relatively large and you don't sense any nearby 

habitation whatsoever for the entire loop. You only cross the road 

that cuts through it twice and that's it. The rest of the ride is 

nothing but trail, vegetation and sky, even in those parts where you 

can see quite far past the trees. And it's fast, with a number of 

long, straight stretches, breaking up sections of twisty. Some of 

those straights are so narrow between the tall vegetation that there's 

barely enough space for my handlebar. Zipping through those sections 

feels a lot like those chases scenes in the Ewok forest from "Return 

of the Jedi," with a small gap just in front of me and nothing but a 

green blur in my peripheral vision. I haven't been to RP more often 

for a few reasons, not least of which being the distance and the fact 

that for half the year it's closed to riding and open to hunting, with 

a slight overlap in the calendar between the two activities — which is 

quite insane, when you think about it — right around this time of the 

year. My first time there I actually spotted a bow hunter walking 

around during my ride. He was probably cursing us for making so much 

darn noise and scaring off his quarry.

 

With the DTC, we typically break into fast and slow groups right off 

the bat. I joined the fast group, got dropped within the first mile 

and did the entire first loop by myself. There are a good number of 

intermediate and advanced sections that break off from and rejoin the 

main loop. I must have missed at least a couple of them because I 

found myself getting passed by a couple of guys from the fast group 

that had already dropped me, one of them twice. Either that or I was 

getting lapped on an 18 mile circuit.

 

After regrouping and recovering in the parking lot we did the second 

round short, sticking to the main loop. This time, for some reason, I 

was able to stay with the leader for almost the entire loop. I got 

dropped just one mile from the finish. He must have just been a little 

tired from the first round and didn't ride quite as fast the second 

time. I finished the ride in 32-1/4 miles at 11.1 average. I typically 

ride a 9.5 mph or so pace on our usual hilly rides.

 

After the ride we enjoyed a nice lunch, beers and BS on the deck of 

the nearby Millhouse Inn. Perfect ending.

 

Happy Birthday, Arthur.

 

_____________________

 

Later that afternoon I get a call from George. He needs to go to a 

ball game with his kids in the morning, would like to start the ride 

at 6:45 and finish by 10:00. Sorry, George, but I need the ride to be 

epic to make me get up that early. Nothing personal. Hopefully you can 

join us at a regular time next weekend.

 

_____________________

 

 

It's Saturday morning and there's no one else that joins me at 8:00. I 

want to catch the T riders but I'm running a few minutes late. I make 

my left at the LIE, look behind me and, sure enough, I get a glimpse 

of a group approaching. I just sit up and let them catch me. Turns 

out, they're a half-dozen latecomers to the T ride and they hammering 

to reach the main group just a minute or to ahead of us. Hey, I love 

to chase. I'm in.

 

We all work together fairly hard to make it. We keep spotting the main 

group just ahead as they pull away from an intersections, but we keep 

hitting red lights just as we reach the crossings, with traffic coming 

across and holding us up. It must have gone on like this for about 

10-12 lights. We finally make our catch around Hicksville by South 

Oyster Bay Road, and barely slow down to rest.

 

After the left at the wall, I let the half-dozen fastest guys pull 

away (I can tell I wasn't going to be able to hang with them) and stay 

with the second fastest (no slouches here either). We go down 

Woodbury, 108 (about 10° colder, I have to pull my arm warmers back 

on), Cold Spring, Turkey and the typical way back. On Turkey is where 

the "selection" starts. I have to give it everything I have to stay in 

contact with the front. Eventually it's down to a dozen or so of us 

riding together, including a couple of young women, one of them in a 

"Army Triathlon" kit. There's also that guy on a Lightspeed with a 

camelback and his jersey tucked inside his shorts. He's a very strong 

rider; I just wish he didn't look quite so dorky. I hate to be dropped 

by guys who can't dress properly.

 

At the sprint finish, as it turns out, it's only Army Tri, Tucked 

Jersey and myself. No one else seemed interested in racing, even 

though they're all strong enough to give it a go. I can't go any 

harder at the climb that follows the Lakeville light and manage to 

stay with the two of them past the crest. It's now Army, then Tuck, 

with me on third wheel. I can tell Tuck wants to attack from behind 

and I keep a close eye on him, planning to try and take him the same 

way.

 

Sure enough, he attacks more or less when you'd expect him to. I jump 

to stay on him. Tri has a lot more to give and I can't even get past 

her. In the end she passes Tuck and wins the sprint. An impressive 

performance. Not surprising, since she dropped me on the climbs a few 

times. At least I'm faster on the downs, not even sure why. Perhaps 

it's those 6-8 extra pounds that I find so hard to lose.

 

Nonetheless, I finish the ride at 47-1/3 miles. Pace (ready for 

this?): 19.2! Even I'm shocked. Just goes to show you how much faster 

one can go with the right group, even if you don't really know them 

that well.

 

Beast