Friends Met Along The Road

[CAMPYBOB]

Pictures from last Sunday's Sweet Corn Challenge ride, here in N.E. Ohio.

https://www.facebook.com/139488276133833/photos/pb.139488276133833.-2207520000.1438256688./866031176812869/?type=3&theater

The Case Western Reserve University Cycling Team...nice young men and a friendly, fast woman. I spent many miles with them. The guy from Japan (on thee BMC in the pictures) was funny, friendly and fast!

Good times. Great weather.

Volnix, these pics are for you as you recover! Heal fast!

And yes, there's a lot of really over-weight cyclists in these pictures.

Ride website: www.sweetcornride.com

 

[CAMPYBOB]

The guy from Nagano, Japan:
A small man with a big motor.

Some of the CWRU cycling team:
This guy was fast!

The heavier rider was a nice guy and I felt badly that he was dropped from his group. The thinner rider was smooth as silk and climbed easily.

Thanks to folks like these the miles were fun and effortless...well, the climbs were still a lot of work!

 

[CAMPYBOB]

These two were flying through the ride:

The gal from Case was strong, smooth and climbed like Quintana:

 

[CAMPYBOB]

The RCC rider and I rode the last 4 or 5 miles together after crossing paths all day. Our Japanese friend hustled away from us over the last long climb:

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Course elevation:
Yeah, it was an up & down affair. Lots of short, steep stuff and plenty of long drags. I had 94 miles in my legs when I hit that last climb out of the Cuyahoga Valley and it did cause much pain. Maximum speed down a hill on Cady Road was 51.63 MPH.

 

[BikeBikeBikeBike]

wow looks like a good time!
Such a diverse group of riders too.

 

[Corzhens]

I'd say great photos you have there as if you are making me envious, hahahaaa. How I love to join rides like that and meeting old friends and making new friends as well. Biking is really one good way of socializing. Maybe I will be allowed to buy my own bike before Christmas and join biking groups again especially in December when the weather is cool and the sun is not burning the skin.

 

[Volnix]

Where did my posts go?

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Quote by BBBB:
"Such a diverse group of riders too."

Historically, the charity events and organized large-scale 'tours' bring out everyone from first time eventers to hard core racers in need of motivation for a long, fast training ride.

On this ride, with its 10, 25, 50 and 100-mile routes on everything from nearly flat terrain to pretty hilly stuff there were riders coming out from Cleveland's inner city and hipster apartments in the warehouse district and flats to the lilly white burbs. There were lots of Asian-American on this ride...more than I've noticed on other rides in the past.

As America is graying, there was also a high percentage of us old farts on the road. Again, everything from masters/veteran Cat. racers to ex-racers to experienced tourists to the sportive types to newbies just getting involved with their retired friends that have years and years of riding under their belts.

Many years ago...America has been the land of the Fat since at least the 1970's...a friend and I were discussing how cyclists could be fat (or obese, in many cases) for years and years after they started riding and how many never lost weight after becoming avid road cyclists. His theory was that the modern road bike is a very efficient machine and that they were not riding hard enough to expend the calories necessary to counter their caloric intake. To that I would add that once a person gets large, that big engine requires larger amounts of fuel.

As can be seen in the pictures of both the riders and the tour event organizers and volunteers, Ohio has more than its share of very heavy folks among the population. Heart disease is a big problem in my area of the world. It's surprising to see, in living digital color, how advanced obesity is even among the supposedly 'fit' portion of the population. Until I went through ALL of those pictures I honestly had no idea the problem of weight was so prevalent among cyclists.

Also, it was GOOD to see the young faces on the road. For several years now there have been very few young riders joining the road cycling community. I hope this trend is not just a blip on the radar and that more and more young folks take up cycling.

 

[Volnix]

Where did my posts go???

 

[CAMPYBOB]

They're still there...in my duplicate post. I think there's some lag time in somebody's servers and the electrons and the silicon aren't synchronized too well.

 

[Volnix]

Great... 3 days in bed already turning grumpy.

Damn kids these days with their organic drugs and GM i-fans think they know it all.

I still remember when I was in the army we could only smuggle benzos and the nurses were wearing fatigues and there was no WiFi.

Where's the nurse? Nuuurse, I want a new keyboard this one is not as clicky as I like them...

 

[CAMPYBOB]

You starting to feel better yet?

Just to let you know, you're doing better than a friend of mine. He hit a fast moving car last May and just now got out of a wheelchair and onto crutches. He spent two months with an external stainless steel 'Halo' with pins through his skin and meat and screwed into his pelvis to hold the multiple pieces of it together while it healed back into one piece. He broke a leg and had other serious injuries.

He'll be OK, but probably be another year to two years making it back from this one.

I was riding along on the Sweet Corn Challenge...with my tongue dragging on my front tire...I caught these nice folks on their Calfee custom made carbon tandem. They were from the same town as my friend and told me some of the details of his crash.

When I got back home and cleaned up I called my friend and he filled me in on the missing details and the extent of his injuries. He was a very fit and very fast Cat. 3 racer. He just returned to work and says life is much better with the Halo removed and the external screws taken out. He has a long, long road to go yet. Volnix. Let's hope your path to recovery is much shorter!

Enjoy every day and every ride.

I just noticed the size of the disco brake on the back of that tandem. Huge! They were both very good riders. The hills and grades that came one right after the other were the only thing slowing them down. They flew!

 

[Volnix]

Kinda yeah, fanks. Its my vision thats still troubling me...

Hmmm these guys look like they are wearing Spesh helmets... Like I used to wear! Will be checking their crash exchange policy later.

Cool tandem! Must be expensive!

I'm sorry to hear that. I personally think I will cut a bit on Sin City Sh^tty riding and just do my jogs outside the city. Maybe just get a commuter and a 3.5kg chain and do some "fun excersize".

 

[CAMPYBOB]

I'm guessing the tandem is closer to $15,000 than it is to $10,000, but you can't put a price on the fun you can have on it.

Well, actually...you can. $15,000.

I'll bet your vision clears up shortly. You got your bell rung, as they say. Once the brain and optic nerves re-aligln it will clear up. Helmets lessen brain injuries, but often do not prevent them entirely. There's also the chance the impact did a partial teat of the optic nerve.

I'm no doctor, but I'll still charge you for my advice to rest, relax, get a cheap hooker and avoid blacking out on booze for a few weeks.

 

[Volnix]

Woah, Holly carbon presses batman! You can buy a boat with that.

Oh yeah about that... You know how much I paid for 2 cad scans, Xray and two days in the hospital?

Zero EUR. Emergencies are free.

Maybe that's why peoplez over there don't cycle. Maybe they are scared of medical expenses in the case of an accident...

Will be checking with a doctor anyway... Maybe it's an infection from the hospital. Dont remember seeing double in the first day there...

The little Spesh Echelon did its thang... Wonder if I should use the possible discount to get a Spesh Propero... Larger air vents and inner matrix... Not that the Echelons vents were insufficient and it also had inner matrix...