We had another small group make it's presence for the Thursday Night Pain Fest including J. Fry, Mike J., Mike F., Craig, Finn, Bullerman, Carey, and myself of course.
Surprised J. Fry with my camera that he loves so much
This was the view that I had of the group a couple of times last night.
The wind was coming from the SSE so we opted for the Dike-Hudson loop and the pain that it provides with it's rolling hills and head/crosswinds. It did not take too long before I fell off the back a wee bit but Bullerman and I fought to stay in touch rolling West out of Cedar Falls on 27th St. With a quick regroup we began to head South into the wind towards Dike. The wind was playing havoc on our group and it seemed like the organization was a little on the sloppy side so I decided to launch myself off the front a couple of times to jump-start things and get the group working together to break through the wind. Eventually J. Fry, Mike J., and I were off the front and heading for the sprint into Dike. J. Fry had a touch too much of a lead for me to fully bridge so I let him go with around 50 meters to the sprint.
Another regroup in Dike before taking it pretty easy for a couple more Southern miles towards Reinbeck still took their toll on me. I pulled up a hill with J. Fry and sure enough was attacked at the top which shot me out the back yet again. Lucky for me Mike F. and Carey soon came up behind me and were able to help me get to the next turn headed for Hudson.
Things were ticking along pretty well with the pace steadily climbing and then J. Fry., Mike J., and I were off the front again and pulling a nice gap. I could only hang on for a few miles before J. Fry pulled hard up one of the larger rollers and spit me out into no-man's-land. I did what I could to keep going while Bullerman, Mike F., and Finn came up behind me and I latched on. Our group was struggling though and it didn't take long until it was just Bullerman and me sharing time on the front and trying to chase down the two leaders. The two of us were actually making really good time and as we approached the final bend before Hudson, Craig motored back into our group and helped to up the pace for the last few miles. We made up some good ground but, not quite enough to get back with the lead two.
Great ride of suffering which was exactly what I was looking for. My total ride was about 58 miles of torture so I am quite happy with that. Cruising back into town along the bike trail on Hwy 63 allowed us to see some of the results of all of the recent rains and flooding that we have had. This is part of the trail near the defunct Greyhound Park at the corner of Hwy 63 and Hwy 20 in Waterloo. The water did a number on a fairly large chunk of the trail here by washing out the ground under and around the trail. The picture is not a good one but, it shows my point.
Read the complete post at http://carlosdajackal.blogspot.com/2008/05/throttle-out-of-control.html