Sunday Nov 9th

Bright sunny day, temperature around 44 degrees.
Those in attendance included.
Steve Cope (captn Carbon) on his carbon framed Kestral.
Kevin Smit “GOG”
Steve Sparano – “Sporadic Steve” – today he was Steve the “Spurt”.
Josh Carter – new member of a local cycling team.
Tim Travitz – “Slow Tim”
Patty Lewis
Sheila Augustine
Doug Augustine
Theresa Smit
Jae Brainard

The pack rolled out of the parking lot onto the early morning empty roads of Cary.
Immediately Steve Sparano Spurted into the lead with Josh hot on his rear wheel, closely stalked by “Captn Carbon”. In the distance behind the lead group Kevin was found making every effort to slowly convince his old body to respond to this first attack of the day. Kevin’s body is slow to warm up and requires tender care during the early phase of a ride. He has learned over the years to respect the need to warm up slowly, if he is to survive even the easiest of rides.

Behind Kevin the “Roses and Doug” were huddled together as they made their way into the Preston Neighborhood. The lead pack did not slow nor look to see who was in their group. Kevin was left riding alone with the lead pack already through several turns and now out of sight, Doug was seen making the jump from the “Roses” towards Kevin’s position. Doug caught up with Kevin as they made the turn towards Davis Drive. Kevin was able to catch a glimpse of the lead pack as the leaders were released by the green light to cross the road. Kevin made a jump to only be caught by the next RED. He slowed and worked as best he could to time the next green, which was being prompted by a line of cars waiting on the other side of Davis. Kevin timed this well but then stuttered as a car was working to make a left turn across his path. The car waited on Kevin and Kevin waited on the car to finally be waved on past by the driver of the vehicle. Doug waited for all this to transpire only to be caught by the next Red light. This was the last time Kevin or the lead pack confirmed the location of Doug.

Kevin shot on into the round-about and exited in time to finally hook up with the lead team. The pace did not slow as Steve the “Spurt” was still pushing the pace. He did not even look back (nor care) who was with him as he made the next several turns, including a left turn away from “Ron’s Pull”. Kevin was impressed with the solid leadership and confidence displayed by Steve. Kevin did later provide some feedback regarding the need to insure all riders were in tow on the “No Drop” philosophy of group rides.

The group made the quick right and then left onto and off of High House putting them on Carpenter Jenks road and the hill towards Holt. The pack all arrived at the crest of the climb together with Kevin demanding a pause to let Doug catch up. As the group circled Kevin slid back down the hill to see if he could detect Doug in the distance. No riders at all in the distance as Kevin did a brief wheel stand near the bottom of the hill. Slowly Kevin turned the bike back up hill to rejoin the group that was now displaying a lack of confidence in the direction to take. “Left turn” commanded “GOG”, and the pack fell into line behind “GOG” as they made their way towards APEX and the country roads towards Sharron Harris Nuclear Plant.

The group road under control thru the heart of APEX with the left turn at the Water Tower placing the pack on the fast rolling hills of Tingen. Each rider took turns at the pull position as they swung through the countryside at a comfortable 21 to 23 mph only to be slowed slightly on the longer climbs leading to Friendship road. It was on the last two climbs prior to the turn onto Friendship that “Captn Carbon” demonstrated he could still take the prem.

The pack assembled again as they swung left onto Friendship road and paused at that point to shed layers of clothing and to take care of any bio break needs. Back on the bike and the group continued their jaunt through the country side riding between 17 and 21 mph. At the turn near the Harris Nuclear Plant the ride intensified as Kevin taunted ‘Captn Carbon” at the base of a long climb. The response was totally predictable resulting in Steve Pulling the pack accelerating the full length of the climb. Once over the climb that group again took turns at the pull position with Steve Sparano and Tim Travitz each doing the majority of the work all the way to Old Highway one. Just at the group closed in on the left turn onto Old Highway One, they spotted a lone rider already navigating the turn.

“Lets GO Guys” Captn Carbon cried as he jumped out of the saddle to take chase. The pack did their best to take pursuit with Steve leading the attack. It took only a short half-mile of all hills to catch and pass the lone female rider. The group continued to pound the pedals as if to announce their superiority over the overtaken rider. The group slowed slightly to make the right turn onto Beaver Creek Road. As the pack reassembled they spotted the same lone female rider up ahead of the group. She had taken an earlier turn (short cut) to get to Beaver Creek Road and was now in the lead again.

The “Thorns” re-ignited the chase and set out to recapture the dominant position. Kevin was in the lead as the pack pulled up behind the rider. He elected to back off and draft her for awhile (knowing Capt Carbon would strike up a conversation with the rider). “We normally charge a $10 drafting fee” “Captn Carbon” announced to the lone female rider. She immediately reached back behind her with her palm facing up in anticipation of Kevin paying her $10 for drafting her.

The group rode together for the next couple of miles with limited chit chat, and no formal introduction of names between the lone rider and the “Thorns” . At the first big climb the “Thorns” rose out of the saddle and powered on up the hill leaving the lone female rider to her solitude. She clearly made a good decision not to engage in chit chat with the band of rebel bikers.

The pack continued to work well together taking turns in the pull position the entire length of Beaver Creek to the first rest stop at Highway 64, 31 miles into the day’s ride. Just as the pack was slowing to make the turn into the gas station Kevin’s rear shifters failed. He was stuck in the smallest cog and could not down shift to easier gears. At the stop Steve Cope, Tim Travitz, and Kevin all worked to try and determine the cause. “Captn Carbon” suggested the issue was the cheep Campagnolo Equipment Kevin had elected to use on his bike. “Slow Tim” agreed and said the real name for the equipment on Kevin’s bike is “CampyNoGo”. After some tugging and pulling on the rear derailleur shifter cable the Bike began to shift again.

After the short rest the group remounted to head across Highway 64 and onto Farrington road with a right turn onto the hilly rough road of Horton Pond aka “Hemorrhoid Hell Road”. The group continued to ride strong with each rider taking turns in each position of the small peloton. Josh was quick to relinquish the pull position each time he found himself there.

Josh had ridden a fast hard training ride Saturday with the Race Team. They had ridden 65 miles at a 21 mph avg (ouch). So Josh decided to ride with the OLD MEN of the “THORNS” group rather than punish himself a second day with his Racing teammates.

The route made the quick right turn onto 751 with lots of heavy traffic to then make the left turn onto Luther and its rolling hills leading to the right turn onto Green Level. Luther is a stretch of road that Kevin always struggles with as it slowly climbs towards it end at Green Level. Josh kept Kevin company as the two worked to minimize lost ground on those ahead. Kevin and Josh continued to lag behind as the group rode Green Level to the last climb before the turn onto Green Level Church. Steve “Spurt” Sparano was again in the lead pushing the pace and setting the direction. Left turn off of Green Level Church onto the bike path forced the pack to slow to a more comfortable 14 mph pace and associated cool down as they headed back into Cary.
The group finished the ride navigating the dangerous lip created by roadwork at the entrance to the Start/Finish. 46 miles at 17 mph pace on a beautiful sunny yet cool day.