April 19th, 2015 - Pre-Monster Cookie Ride

Monster Cookie is coming up this weekend, and if the sun shines, I'll be riding my fixed gear Mondonico, but didn't ride last weekend due to the workload at the shop. Figured I should go out for a short ride on it on Saturday, and not only Tom, but also Mark and Brad showed up! I indicated that a shorter ride was in order for me, but that they could continue on after I turned around. We did the Sunnyside/Cloverdale/Ridge Dr. loop and when we reached Parrish Gap, Tom urged me to continue on as I still had a half hour before I needed to turn back. I thought that just going up the South end of Summit Loop would add that additional time, but Mark added that he'd done a longer ride yesterday and felt knackered. Tom chimed in with his not-ready-for Summit comment, and confirmed that Di was coming in today. I easily agreed to a longer ride via Winter Creek and back up Liberty Road.

The other three were riding derailleur-equipped bikes, so I had to surge ahead on hill climbs, where I could, and watch them freewheel past me on the descents! So, we yo-yoed along, and when we hit the bottom of Liberty hill, I put the pedal to the metal up Lake Drive, knowing that there were several descents coming back into town, where I'd lose ground with my inability to coast or shift to a higher gear. I did a good job, but as the photo shows, Mark may be knackered, but still a stronger rider than me! They all caught me on the final descent into town, and my own, knackered, legs did all they could do to keep up with them!