Wow! What a nice turnout we had this weekend. Beautiful weather, too.
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Saturday, 11/14/10.
First I meet Anita at the train station. She has taken the railroad from Manhattan just to ride with us. What a treat.
We get to Base camp. Locomotive, Gus, Big A, Beast and Anita are ready to ride. Crash has called saying that he was having trouble swapping pedals to share one of his bikes with his friend Andy, who was visiting from out of town. So we ride over to him to try to help. We just can't unscrew one of the pedals, so, instead Crash lends a pair of shoes to Andy and we can get going.
Since we're that much further away from the LIE I suggest my coast hugger route and we finally set off. The temp is brisk, but the sky is clear and the sun is rising. We quickly warm up as soon as the climbs start. We ride through Mahnasset, Plandome, Port W., Roslyn, Sea Cliff, Glen Cove, etc., including Horseshoe and Mill Hill. We're treated to lots of water views, steep climbs and descents, and gorgeous northeastern fall foliage. There are lots of other riders out on the roads. We ride very well together, although Andy has some trouble keeping pace. Crash hangs back to stay with him. We just stop for a minute or two to let them catch up every 10 miles or so.
After we regroup at Oyster Bay, Crash and Andy take a shortcut via Sandy, while the rest of us continue via Moore's, then Stillwell. We reach Syosset just as Crash and Andy are ready to leave. They don't want to sit too long and stiffen up. We say our goodbyes and settle for our own short break. Stók, anyone? The sun feels great. Loco, as usual offers antacids to everyone present for their potassium content, to stave off muscle cramps.
Then it's Muttontown and the campus, where, predictably, the group brakes up, but not by much. Loco is in great form and he's way ahead. I manage to hang with Big A, while Gus and Anita bring up the rear. It was less than a minute between the first and last to make it to the gate. There we regroup as usual. On the way home we (Loco and Beast) decide to initiate Anita to the Vista Hill climb, despite Big A's complaining, or perhaps just 'cause. Gus skipped the Vista Hill detour, since he still had to ride back home to Queens. Anita had no problem with the climb and demonstrated her prowess once again.
After Vista it's just a flat mile or so the the station. Good bye, Little A (your new, draft Renegades nickname; try it on for size ;-). Until next time.
We totaled 66 miles at about 16.3 average. Not bad, considering all the steep climbing.
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Sunday, 11/15/10.
Another brisk, yet beautiful morning at Base Camp. I overslept big time and am running almost 10 minutes late. My phone rings just as I'm crossing Northern. By the 5th ring I'm there. Sorry guys.
Locomotive, Nitrous, Stitches, Crash and Beast are ready to ride. We and our bikes are all wearing various combinations of red, black and white, except for Nitrous and his Tarmac (black, blue and lime green). Jan said he might meet us at Wheatley. We roll off the usual back way, up Westminster and onto the LIE. We reach wheatley only at 8:40 (my fault) and Jan isn't there. We stay on the LIE and eventually catch up to him in Jericho. That's surprising, since Jan is very strong and he had almost 10 minutes on us. He actually thought that he was the latecomer and we were ahead of him. Cool. Now we're six.
From there it's our usual West Hills, Lawrence, Snake, Huntington route. After we turn off of Lawrence and reach the end of Turkey we wait a while for Nitrous, but he fails to show up. We figure he must have missed the turn for Turkey (an easy mistake, if you don't know about it) and ended up in Huntington. So we elect to just meet up at Syosset. I'm feeling particularly well and do some nice climbing an pulling, including the whole way up out of Huntington, down into 108 and part of Stillwell.
Some 10 minutes after we settle down for our Syosset break, Nitrous finally pulls in. Turns out he hadn't missed the turn for Turkey. He just was stopped dead in his tracks at the foot of Lawrence, due to being in the completely wrong gear, and lost time gearing down and starting up again. Another easy mistake, for those who don't know just how suddenly steep the foot of Lawrence is.
From Syosset we can pretty much do the rest of the ride (Muttontown, campus, LIE) with our eyes closed. We all stay together on the LIE and even pick up a few other riders for the short distance. We finish at 60 miles, together, with a very respectable 16.7 to 16.9 (to 20.0) average, depending on who you ask.
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It's a beautiful time of the year to ride. So what if your extremities feel cold (gloves, booties, not that complicated) or your nose runs (go catch it).
See you on the road (or trail).
Beast
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