Ride Leader:  Blake Altman

Date: July 11, 2018

Ride Name:  Casey Jones Express

Ride Distance:  25 Miles

Average Speed of the Ride:  22.2 MPH (lead)

Ride Class:  AA/2 Express

Mechanical Issues:  Flat tire

Mishaps:  None

Weather: 90’s, humid, partly cloudy

Guest Riders:  Holden Hudson, Alonzo Baxter, Mike Mullinott, Wesley Harris, Anthony Carter, Orlando (?), Kevin O’Clair, Josh Hettel

Member Riders:   Eric Williams, Douglas Carter, Brad Francisco, Tyler Hill, Mike Wilson, Sue Estes, Tom Roberts, Chuck Coe, Jason Hendricks, Michael Blaine, Michael Kenyon

Ride Report:

We had a big turn-out for this ride!  Some of this might have been A/B riders who tagged-along with us since there wasn’t an A/B ride this week.

The ride was somewhat slow to form-up out of the parking lot since there were some breaks caused by waiting for traffic at intersections.  By the time we reach the end of St. Mary’s Ave. the ride had consolidated and it was off to the races.

So far as I can tell, the ride was pretty much together until the hill on Route 6 where the typical break-up of the ride occurred.  Today was a bit noteworthy in that the lead group was much larger than usual and the number of trailing riders was much smaller.  A chase group of 3 riders managed to catch the lead group with the assistance of the traffic light at Penn’s Hill Road.  The rest of the ride was too far back to join.

The lead group was together until crossing Budd’s Creek Road were traffic again split the ride.  The lead group slowed until the trailing group caught-up on Allen’s Fresh Road.  The group again fractured due to traffic when rejoining Budd’s Creek.  The lead group did not slow down at this point since it was assumed that the trailing group (who had most of the stronger riders) would soon catch up on the hill.  (This was the rider leader’s decision but a bad one; it was pointed out to me later that this may cause trailing riders to make dangerous crossings in order to not get separated.  I will not be doing that again.)

It took most of the trailing group until a few miles down Route 301 to catch the lead group.  This was a big surprise given the strength of the trailing group.  Once they rejoined the lead group stayed together until the end with the pace going from fast to really fast depending on who was leading.

Unknown to the ride leader Tyler suffered a flat tire and was delayed returning to the start.  Chuck went in his car to find him but we subsequently learned that Tyler had repaired the flat and rode directly home.  We were able to call Chuck and let him know.

Sue achieved another personal best for the ride with a 20.3 MPH average; great job!  This seems to be a pattern with her as she seems to top her past performance each week!

It was another fun ride.