Big T.I.T.S. at the barn with GW Alums: Friday

A group of GW Cycling alums took our second annual trip to the Lost River Barn this past weekend, to finish off the month of May with some strong training. The group included mostly folks racing for current clubs, but also some old ringers and also a total racing noob.

Especially because half of us have become regular guests at the barn, it was a fun group. This shorter blog is the first of 3, one of each day of riding. Hopefully it'll peak your interest, but it's mostly for me to remember the goings-on of the weekend. If you were among the gang at the barn, please chime in with the fun facts I'm forgetting.


Friday

America is all about speed - hot, nasty bad-ass speed.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Friday's ride only included only the five of us that arrived early. Seth O., Eric B., and Dan "Schlomo" joined Catherine and I as early afternoon arrivals at the barn. We did a pretty simple route of 40 miles that took us down Howards Lick Road to do a lap of the Lost River Classic course, then a loop through a lollipop on Dove Hollow to Wetzel Hollow road.

Dan and Eric were hammered the hell out of their legs for this first ride. The scenery and carless roads excited them, and I was put in some serious spots of bother by these guys. I was planning on a chill, chatty ride Friday. That quickly went to sh*t. Thankfully, they didn't know where they were going, so they couldn't let me sag back too far.

We waited up a few times on the race course loop, but on the Dove Hollow loop, we tore up the 2-3 mile gradual, bumpy descent. The guys were just having way too much fun. Cat and Seth became victims of Dan & Eric's antsy legs.

We regrouped on Howards Lick road before the journey back up to the barn, but Cat and Seth decided to save their legs for Saturday and drove back up. Dan, Eric, and I headed up for the climb up from Lost River State Park.

Particularly because Dan was riding with a 39x23 as his easiest gear, it was amazingly uncompetitive. I kept my legs spinning strongly, and Dan let me know that he was annoyed by my speaking in full sentences on some switchbacks. Soon thereafter, the three of us spread out.

We didn't meet up again until we cracked open beers at the barn. According to Dan's Garmin computer we averaged 18 mph overall - including the climb - for our 39.8 mile ride. The KOM to the barn went as follows:

1 - Siggy
2 - Schlomo
3 - Bruins

Lauren Peterson and Jen Cheng joined us after our ride. All hungry, Eric cooked an incredible secret-family-recipe pasta sauce for dinner, so all the gang engorged ourselves and later sat down to watch Talladega Nights and fight the indigestion that comes with overfeeding after a hard ride. (This movie's irreverence would lighten the mood for the entire weekend.)

Because Jen Cheng forgot her cycling shoes, our last three buddies delayed their journey to the barn to fetch 'em. Drew (D-Wis) hitched a ride with Mark Pro and his gf Ann. They all joined us later at night halfway through the movie.

Although most of us totally lost interest in the movie, it's the first time I've been at the barn and the majority of the guests have not fallen asleep during the movie.

More to come...