12/5/10

Fucking WINDYYYYYYYYYYY

Robyn and I were up in Schenectady for a swim meet this weekend. We did a loop on Saturday which went 20 miles on one side of the Mohawk river then 20 on the other. The way out we had a cross tail wind, the way back block head. There was one point on the way back on a flat stretch we were going 8!!! FUCKING 8. That should have been an omen for Sunday. When we left the house the wind was at our backs. As we hit the city the wind changed and was now in our faces. (Memories) We hooked up with E and cyclocross Chris at the cafe. The roll to the park was interrupted by and local Yale kungfu master. That thought it was necessary to tell me that the light that we were rolling through was red. Everyone's a tuff guy in a Toyota minivan. Once at the park Hippie Chris and Joey Scambini were there. Good to see old Joe back in the fold on a regular basis. The S&S crew showed up with a few new faces. Max Acapulco and Mark (Henk) Paggoli from CVC graced us with there presence. The ride rolled out really slow. I heard a few shouts from the back about the pace. If you don't like it go to the front and change it. The pace stayed steady a good group of 10 or so rotated in a some what symbiotic fashion. That is until the rise after the chicane. Crowell showing his sense of tactics attacked into the 25 mph headwind. A few super geniuses went after him. Mike and I sent E along for the ride just in case the RED SEA parted for them somehow. Crowell I don't want to hear you. Lets break it down 25mph headwind + 20+ miles to go = you lose. It was all back together by the industrial park. The group was getting smaller due more to the wind not the pace. If the door got opened then I think it would be hard to close any gap. We picked up big Johnny at the ski slope. I went old school and got on his wheel in the pace line. A little note here the big guy was my main domestic back in the day. I give him credit for my wins in a few races, most notably Jiminy Peak. Any way the guys willing to rotate now was dwindling. When we approached the turnaround the wind almost stopped us dead. At the turn I set the pace. Mike and E were looking for Jancinto's wheel. I kept the pace hard enough that if the move went he would be stuffed and not have a jump on them. Hacker jumped away at the corner and no one reacted. Checkmate for the college boy. I was fucking shot from my pull. I was near the back at the corner on 10and the field was falling apart. I had to dig deep to stay near the front over the hill. Now to the tailwind, wrong it was a crosswind and made it not to much fun. With the legs like jello I tried to recover. The ride was not to hard until we hit rt 10 in Cheshire. Mike took the sprint at S&S with ease. We marked E for the finish but a group slipped away with 3k to go. We had Koski up there so we waited it out. I wanted to wait for Guido and Hacker to make there move, but Mike called it so I took my death pull with about a 1.5 k to go. I got us across 500 meters out. What went on from there you have to ask Mike and E. I had to turn around and go get my left lung. I hacked it out with 800 meters to go. I vote that we slow the pace down on the ride for a month or so. What do you think?