by Joseph Lellman » Sat Apr 05, 2014 8:27 pm
With Jonathan and Tim both racing Battenkill, and Roberto out sick, I became the de facto ride leader. I saw on the weather report last night that there was supposed to be a westerly wind all day, so I thought that heading west at the start would be a good plan. It was 37 degrees and cloudy at the start, and it never became warm and sunny as the weather reports predicted. We had a health care dominated group at the start: Dr. Joe, Dr. Ian, Dr. Rich, Dr. Mike, Dr Ellen, Clayton (whose company makes orthopedic implants and prosthetics), and Mike Hempstead. We went west on Route 66, with everyone climbing the steeps at their own pace. We re-grouped at the Huntington town line, then again after the twisty downhill to Rte 112. From there, we went north on 112, with steady efforts on the grinding hills. When we got to South Worthington/ Ireland St. we decided to split up, with most of the group turning onto Ireland, and Clayton and I continuing north on 112 to Worthington. There, we decided to abandon Clayton’s plan to ride to Windsor, and went downhill to Chesterfield. We climbed the Gorge on 143 at a nasty pace, and picked up Rich Wu back in the center of Williamsburg, who had met up with Ron Bush and Allicia (or is it Allison? sorry). Ron pulled the four of us at a truly torrid pace on his steel cross bike (with cross tires) all the way to Florence, where we split up. It was a hard ride, and a great workout. I had 47 miles and 4000 feet of climbing. A good day’s work.
