The plan was a 21 mile easy spin to recover from Tuesday night’s hammerfest. I made arrangements with the owner of Hungry Heroes Sub Shop for some riders to park and we would be back for the after ride dinner. I led us out of the parking lot, looked back and was the only one riding . One of our riders got a flat a few dozen yards from the start. .
As we rode on the MUP I began to quicken the pace from our 8 MPH. Everyone was keeping up OK. On this ride was the new kid. Nick got his first road bike for Christmas and during the ride over the weekend that I was video taping, I noticed how he stayed with the fast riders. After telling my co-leader, Flat Tire Geoff, where we would meet up, I told the kid to go to after burners. We quickly got our speed up, way up. As we were riding I gave him instructions on pace line riding, how I would signal him to take over the lead.
We were clipping along at a pace of 18-21 MPH, I pulled left to let Nick take the lead and that’s when I noticed there were 4 of us in the paceline, and there was a second one chasing us. Once Nick got the lead, the bastards dropped me.
Fortunately, I was the only one who knew the route we were riding and we had to regroup at strategic spots when there were choices of turns to make.
After this stop we had a Strava segment coming up. Sixteen year old Nick who has been riding for less than two months, pulled the whole group of us up Vaughn Hill road at 22 MPH. Near the top, I blew up and had to drop out of the contest and also noticed that the rest of the pace line had also blown up and dropped back.. It was just me and Nick. I yelled had him to go for it, he didn’t understand what I was saying and also dropped his speed. It’s too bad, because he was on pace to break into the top ten for this segment.
At the 1/2 way point Lloyds Market, we again regrouped and rode as a pack for quite a way stopping to visit the Clydesdale Ranch and another horse ranch. The Clydesdales were put away for the night, but Baby, a few miles down the road was more than happy to spend time with anyone who stopped by.
The last highlight of this route was riding past the World Headquarters of Titelist Golf, the Acushnet Company. We arrived at Hungry Heroes with calories to spare just in time to see the closed sign.
A Midnight Rider 
Grandma June is glad she didn’t go on this ride. I would have had a hard attack going up Vaughn Hill at 22 miles/hr. I do go faster than what map my ride clocks me at, yet I do go at a more relaxing pace through the country. I stop & feed the horses on Long Plain Road. My mother has become confused, so it is hard for me to go on group rides out of town, or at supper time.
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Grandma June is glad she didn’t go on this ride. I would have had a heart attack going up Vaughn Hill at 22 miles/hr. I do go faster than what map my ride clocks me at, yet I do go at a more relaxing pace through the country. I stop & feed the horses on Long Plain Road. My mother has become confused, so it is hard for me to go on group rides out of town, or at supper time.
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