Worst Day of the Year Ride 2010

Doug, Rich, Radioactive Dave, & Dan

Rain? What Rain?
Okay, so it wasn't the worst. It wasn't epic. It wasn't the kind of ride that you tell stories about years later. The predicted rain, (yes, January 24th and rain) was nearly non-existent. It had come down all night and morning, but subsided by ride time. But the ride was still a good time and that works.

Anyway, the roads were still wet and with an apparent dearth of fenders in the Ann Arbor area it still felt plenty wet and gritty out there. (Note to DeWight: you'd make a killing selling and mounting fenders at the beginning of this event.)

The Sign in Crew

If anything, the danger was overdressing. With temps in the mid to upper 40s, it got hot in multiple layers of clothes, plus rain gear. I had to peel off my rain vest after the first ten miles. I prefer my saunas off the bike. Heat stroke in the middle of winter is not the kind of story you want to tell while splayed across a table at the end of the ride in Arbor Brewing Company (ABC).

DeWight

I did the forty mile route. I mentioned this as we prepared to leave to DeWight Plotner, owner of Wheels in Motion, the sponsor of the ride, and he asked me to keep an eye on things out there on those wild roads with those winter riding wackos.

Responsibility
That meant I had to be responsible, which is usually a tough one for me, but the other side of that was that I had an excuse if everything ratcheted up to a suffer level I wasn't in the mood for. And they always do, even when someone calls for a moderate tempo ride. One rider's tempo is another's pain. And I'd never want to admit that I was in pain and getting dropped.

I could simply drop back and let everyone know it was time for me to be responsible.

This happened far more quickly than I'd planned. It was shortly after passing through Ypsi when Doug's chain derailed. I was still fresh. (Doug, you could have had the decency to wait until I was pooping out.) The whole group stopped to wait, but I realized that wasn't going to work every time someone had a mechanical, so I signaled them to go forth while I, responsible guy, circled back to make sure everything was all right. It was.

Rich, Fixing His Flat. We Watched.

Someone even more responsible than I, Javier, had stopped to help already and they were chugging my way. The group was still in sight, but a series of dots way up the road, so we headed off in chase, only to find Rich pulled over not far up with a flat. We stopped. Always nice to have Rich when you need to chase back, plus Rich is uber-responsible and helps everyone everywhere always. We stared at him while he fixed his flat. Not much help, but we stared well.

Alex, Ben and Dan

Once he got the flat fixed the group was long gone, but we had our own little pack and we paced along quite nicely, finding Ben along the way.

Doug

"Easy"
I thought there was supposed to be a stiff east wind, and though we were headed north, wind of any kind was non-existent. This was going to be the easiest Worst Day of the Year Ride ever. Five guys, nice pulls. Life had its benefits in the active outdoor world.

Then we got to Whitmore Lake and headed back south. Whoa! The wind had decided to shift from its easterly prediction to a southerly blast of pain. It was a wind wall from Whitmore Lake back to Ann Arbor. Legs were fading fast on nearly everyone.

Forty Milers

We picked up a number of riders who were struggling just to keep the pedals turning. It was hard to hold everyone together, since some riders had spent all their muscle power on the ride out. Soft pedaling meant nearly not pedaling at all.

Responsible Heads South
Past Northfield Church Road I lost responsible and pedaled hard into the wind distancing myself from the others. It was foolish, I know that. I do these things and learn to regret them over and over, never learning my lesson. This is one of those moves that signals to others the race is on. It never fails with the group I ride with.

Javier. That Smile is His Way of Letting Us Know that at Some Point It's Going To Hurt.

After letting my little paper mache body dangle in the wind for about ten minutes, Javier caught me, pulled ahead and began to pummel my aching quads. He had all kinds of power to spare and I had a couple of aching toothpicks for legs pleading with me to stop.

But without Javier it was just me and the wind alone. With Javier it was me holding on with eyes crossed. He even signaled for me to take the front at one point. I pulled into the wind, felt like I got punched by Thor, and pulled back behind Javier's vortex. We left it that way until town, where we finally did soft pedal for a few blocks into the relief that is ABC. Another WDOTY ride done. Spring can come now. Watch out for Javier this year. Engine's firing all too well.

All Photos © oRo.