On Saturday I met up with the Cyclopaths again this time in the small town of Weir to embark on a 43 mile ride around Granger Lake. I was running a bit late, I had to stop for gas and then sunscreen. I rolled into the meeting place 5 minutes till 8. Luckily there were a few other riders still getting ready and I was ready to roll quick so I wasn’t holding anybody up.
As we were rolling out Rance tells me about the first climb of the day and how it was approaching. I’ve never ridden this route before so my heart skipped a beat as I was expecting a flat ride. I was over the top of the “hill” before I realized that was the climb he was referring to. We had a stop/regroup at the gas station in Circleville.
Shortly after the stop I hit some uneven pavement between a bridge and the road. As soon as I hit it I knew it wasn’t good as I had to pull over with a flat. Everybody went whizzing by. Luckily one person stopped and waited for me to change my tire, thanks Rich (I believe that was his name, correct me if it wasn’t). It took about 12-15 minutes to change and everybody was long gone. We started back on the route and were going about 17 – 18 mph, we caught the end of the group around the Hoxie area, but as we crossed the dam another rider John kicked it in and we were crossing the damn around 25 mph.
Unfortunately at that speed we dropped Rich. I felt really bad and still do, he stayed back for me and I left him. At the end of the dam road another rider was waiting under a tree and said he was waiting for Rich and the others. So I pushed on with John into the wind as we circled the lake and into Granger. You make the call, on a group ride should I have stayed back with the others or was it ok to push on at the faster pace that I’m more accustomed to riding?
As I was going through Granger I wasn’t quite sure where the designated stop was, as I slowed for John to catch up I saw the lead pack ahead pulling out of town. I turned around to see if John wanted to stop and since he didn’t we headed out to catch the main group.
The ride back to Weir was uneventful, except for the time I dropped my water bottle and had to stop to pick it up. It was my favorite one with my Gel-Bot so I couldn’t leave it. Once again I had to catch up, at least this time I was only a minute back and not 15.
I really liked the route, the traffic was fairly low as most of the ride is on country roads. There were a couple sections, albeit small where we had fresh oil applied to a road and a stretch of 30 feet of gravel roads. If you need a relatively flat route with some rollers interspersed through out then I suggest this route.
Jun 3, 2008 at 2:28 PM Since you were all caught up to the main group, you have no obligation to stay with him any longer. Hope you thanked him for his trouble, though.