1-29-2011

With a forecast high of 50 degrees, I decided it was time for y first ever Bakery Ride.  Marios, the president of Asheville Bicycle Racing Club had invited me to come out several times but my schedule never worked out.  Today it did (and Marios did not show up...)

But, all was not lost, Keving Hessler showed up, and I knew it was going to be a good day.   We farted around for a few minutes until about 50 roadies got ready and rolled out.  Downhill to the river, with no one pointing out holes or debris,  I thought about moving farther up in the pack.  Less than 3 minutes later I was on the side of a road, rear tire flat, watching the whole pack move up the road and around the corner.  Then it was like a dream,  a vision of sorts,  a lone rider pulled out of the pack and rode back to me.  It was Kevin.

In my haste to try to do a quick change, I was not making any headway.  Kevin, being  a seasoned veteran bike mechanic, took over.  In minutes we were on our way, alone.    We pushed the pace for a while, and decided we should not push the pace because we would blow up,  we both agreed,  then we continued to push the pace.

 Our thinking was that they could be just up around the corner.  So we shifted through our gears, climbed and descended.  Coming around a corner we saw a lady walking her 5 dogs, off leash down the middle of the road.  Since Kevin was pulling, as he did for most of this ride,  he squeezed by and left me surrounded.  After much yelling and screaming, I got away with one little yapper on my heels.   I unclipped my left foot and took a swing, kicking the little punk right on the nose.

 As we rolled around the last ridge above Marshall, we could see some folks gathered at the bakery below.  We pulled up, I went in to fill the water bottles, peed, and came out,  2.5 minutes max.  I looked at Kevin, in a matter of seconds, the group left,  we decided to wait for stragglers. 

Erica Chard came out of the bakery where she had been hiding,  then the last two riders, Carla, and Wendy rode up.  So, there were 5 of us left to ramble up the river.   Everybody took some turns at the front, until we came upon Bob Wright, who had flatted. 

We stopped to help him get going again, then let Wendy and Erica set the pace, which was a great recovery from earlier.

After 45 miles and about 3 hrs, we got back to the parking lot and headed our separate ways. 

Enjoy the ride!!