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The Last One!
(Finally)
The true zealots arrived in the parking lot of Hammer
Arial’s shop today at 1:30 to show their true devotion to their bike and team.
Before even leaving the parking lot Manpon Matthew Martin was already
making excuses about his wheels and the wind.
After listening to the Habersham Hammer’s excuse of why he wasn’t
riding, and wondering why there was a giant sized cycle equivalent to that the
size of Mr. Lillypad in the back of his truck, the pack of five was off,
sporting their shiny white uniforms for the United
Community Bank Inc. cycling team.
Before even leaving the town of Baldwin, Steven “Man” Dean blew a
tire, which took him and Stan “Mountain Man” White only thirty minutes to
change (25 of this was Man Dean showing each of us why he thought his tire
blew). As the proud five zealots
headed out and down a winding 441 and 105, they quickly realized that today was
a bit chilly, but nothing like the punch in the face old man winter gave us last
week. Thirty minutes into the ride
a suspicious nosebleed from Brody “My handlebars are six inches lower than
yours” Stiarwalt halted the ride, while Manpon Martin quickly darted off to
avoid questioning. After finally
getting the blown tires and nosebleeds out of the way, the group finally began
to ascend Dick’s Hill, which was the site of carnage recently when Andy “Big
Motor” Brackett and Reilly “I have a question” Mahon punished the group in
a relentless attack. This week was
more leisurely, but tiring nonetheless. As
the group completed the always dreaded Dick’s Hill climb, they took a quick
right onto Rock Road to partake of the “Upper Loop” from Tuesday summer
rides. When the group came to Black
Snake, they decided to keep going straight to get more miles, because that’s
just how insane these guys are. This
leap into obscurity took the pack through Demorest, where all but one turned
left. His name will not be
disclosed, but he said he couldn’t hear us due to the volume of his wheels.
After re-grouping at Demorest Elementary, the pack headed toward the
attack zone, which began at K & K Convenience.
The pace didn’t pick up until Manpon Martin decided to go for a
breakaway, which was quickly reeled in by the Mountain Man and Darting,
Meatgrinder, Crash, Dustin Mealor. As soon as the pack regrouped, Mealor became the victim of
wheelsuck when he came off the lead. Stiarwalt
and Man Dean refused to let him get behind the pack.
Manpon didn’t take too well to this and attempted an assault again,
which was reeled in by the pack. As
the group neared the finish line and the CLS, hearts were pounding.
It was Mealor who went on the attack first, attempting to lead Dean out.
Not realizing this, Dean slipped into obscurity and second place when
Stiarwalt sprinted around and took the win, and a nice prize package from Mayfield
Dairy Farms. Mealor came in
third with Martin and White in a close fourth and fifth.
All in all the ride was a good one, and the pack all agreed that 45 miles
was more than enough to satisfy their pre-silver comet appetite.
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