Chain Ring growth

7 studs and their steads showed up for a ride around Hanover.  The humidity faded and the temperature was a cool 67 as we all approached the Milestone clubhouse.

THANG:

We headed out to Peaks and crossed 301 and traversed onto Georgetown Road.  We took a left on Fire Lane Road and headed to Studley via Pollard Creek.  We went to the end of Studley and turned right on Atlee Road. We then crossed back over 301 and went through Rutland and then headed down Cool Spring and finished it up by taking a right on a newly paved New Ashcake Road.  We had 3 hills of significance – Georgetown, Studley at Totopotomy Creek, and then Cool Springs. The Pax was thankful for these “bumps” in the road.  We had a good strong pace of 15.8 mph for the ride.  To see our route, here is my Strava file:  https://www.strava.com/activities/1091048132

NMS:

Two FNGs, who were new to F3, but definitely not new to biking, joined us for slightly hilly route.  YHC has been biking with these cats for years, so it was good to share F3 with Mark and Robert.  Atlas also was able to join us after a F3 hiatus.  Chainsaw is off at the River, but YHC was wondering about Puppy and the excuses we will hear from him.  Two other souls that the YHC is EHing didn’t make it out, but the YHC is confident that they will show up on an upcoming Wednesday.

The hills definitely took the wind out of the PAX, but we stayed together and all became stronger through our riding on this 19th day of July 2017.  The big effort came on Pollard Creek as we rolled passed a historic farm (where the first Hanover produce stand got their wares) and headed to Studley.  All pushed hard and rolled up the hill in speeds that eclipsed 30 mph.  YHC was anxious to take the KOM from his riding buddy who is getting ready for a fight on National TV for the best Christmas decorations. This segment is just under a half mile and finishes just after the stop sign on Studley. Whoever made this segment had a death wish as it is asking for trouble to end a fast segment where the speed going into the stop sign was 22 mph.  Yikes. The YHC dug deep, and was able to take the KOM by a slim 5 seconds.  The rest of the PAX was close behind and took up spots on the leader board – Sugar Baby 4th, Wheelie 7th and Risky 9th. The rest of the PAX is not on Strava –  – yet, so there efforts are not captured virtually, but visually they were all right there!

Lots of fun was had on this hillier route.  The PAX grew and we are confident that this AO has some solid staying power.  Abacus has the Q next week and Sugar Baby has it the week after.  Now it is time to make us official and get us on the list as an AO and get our own tag…

COT

It was great to name Robert (Risky) as we learned that he is about to be an empty nester and works in the risk world at SunTrust.  YHC also discovered a couple of things about Mark (Shutterbug), who the YHC has been riding with for years – one, he loves to travel (most recently going to Turkey) and two, that he is an accomplished photographer.

Announcements:

• Reese Strong 5K – F3 will have a presence there and it is encouraged to make time for this worthy event – http://www.reesestrong.org/
• This will be a regular thing – Wednesday at 530 at the Milestone Clubhouse. Invite friends to join the fun…

Till the next time,

Abacus