april 22 oley derby

it seems that it's my turn to write the ride report:
a rather large group with some new faces headed out of oley for the neutral section along main street. no hot rod cars zooming us and no police escorts tonight. ryan seemed rather layed back feeling the new cannondale he was riding, or was he relaxed because he brought a teamate along and together they could dish out all the pain they wanted to on us mere mortals. fred shot off the front with one rider in tow for the first contested sprint points in lobacshville. other than that little burst the ride was just rolling along with most guys pulling thru. then we came up to limekiln and made the left, and crossed weavertown road. as expected ryan and teamate got on the front and drove it down the gradual hill. i found myself in the 53x11 with my head down as low as i dared and putting as much power into the pedals as i could just to hang on. i heard jerry say later that he only had a 12 and he couldn't keep up. we get to the bottom and they sit up, but that's not enough for nick and a few others who keep driving it for a little more. we settle in again, although a few riders lighter, and head up to daniel boone. coming into the off canter left hander i saw rasta man and i moved in front of him. no offense but i was on his wheel when he crashed and i was just playing it safe. up past the pet cemetary, nice and steady,,,,,,,,,, and then we see a rabbit,,,,,,,, well, maybe it was the recumbent. so we're off at 100%, never mind that horse, and the rabbit's not going down easy but, he finally is caught and we sit up just a little. right turn onto oley turnpike and you better be ready because it's out of the saddle thru the turn and you better be on a wheel. onto mine and we're pretty steady, until a couple of short attacks, i think dean gave it a go and one other rider?, go off the front, but going nowhere, too much horsepower in this group. we're all together again in a single line, i pull thru, nick pulls thru, ryan pulls thru and i let him in in front of me, his teamate pulls thru and i also let him in, and then ryan cranks it up for his teamate,,,,,,, faster and faster and faster and then a huge sprint surge and his teamate goes with 200 meters to go with me putting as much power into the pedals that i had left, and then i couldn't hold his wheel any more. i take a quick glance back and, i knew that nick was on my wheel, but he was far enough off that i could coast in. when ryan's teamate took off it was a big burst of speed, and we were already doing almost 30 mph at that point.

it was a beautiful night and a great ride. see you all next week.

jim