Peter James Wrote... Hmm - after this I will just have to embarrass Tim in return. He will remember his first year with the club - he rode regularly with the same group as I did. I soon discovered he was a strong rider, and after a few weeks I realized that giving him too much advice would do me no good in the long-term(!) Through illness he missed completing Rideau Lakes that year - just one way would have been his longest-ever ride. A week or so later the phone rang - he wanted advice on riding the Animalathon. I assumed he had the name of the event wrong, and was referring to the Humanathon. But I was wrong. So I attempted to dissuade him: "Tim, your longest ride to date is ### km, and you want to ride xxxxxx that. Try the Humanathon first." I thought I had been successful.
A couple of weeks later we are at Calabogie eating breakfast, almost half the Humanathon complete. Jean Doiron asks who is planning on riding the Animalathon. This takes me off guard because I wasn't sure if I was up to it. Before I can swallow my coffee Tim chimes in - "Sure - how about you Peter?" So the decision is made. For all three of us it's our first Animalathon. What a ride. It's a headwind all the way back from Cobden. From Arnprior back to Ottawa there's half a dozen regular Animalathoners at the front of the group, doing a continuous rotation at close to 30 km/h. There's another half-dozen riders taking shelter at the back - me included. By this point we've ridden over 300 km - new territory for me. Every so often Tim takes a turn in the rotation - even though he's now at xxxxx times his longest ever ride. Unreal. So who wants to fill in the ### and xxx? Will Tim reveal all? Peter James Ottawa, Ontario Hey Peter, et al, Peter, you should mention that you got a flat and had to put a tire boot in just after Almonte. I think you probably rode that whole distance on about 80psi on the back tire. How many Km's effort does that equal? I remember Les Humphries coming back to help pull us back to the group and me thinking, "hows this old guy gonna help out?", and then hanging on for dear life at nearly 40kms/hr. I don't have a good log from my first year in the club but it was really neat. Every Sunday was a new destination and a greater distance for me. Every Sunday I learned more about cycling from the more experienced riders. Avery was the touring director then and had really worked hard at setting up the program to get in shape for the Rideau Lakes. I think my longest ride before the Animalathon was to Winchester, about 140km's I think. Ignorance is bliss. This whole memory thing just emphasizes the welcoming nature of the club and the amount of knowledge that the more experienced riders offer the newcomers, right Matt, re posting earlier this week? You don't need to ask questions on the rides, just watch listen and learn. That animalthon was with many of the more experienced riders Perry mentioned in his letter in the Spokesperson. Bram was riding a bike that the bell sounded every time we hit a bump. Ron Phillips pulled us from Cobden to Beachburg. Henning pulled a single pace line from there into Arnprior. We "lost" Sally Datars, not a good idea now that I know Paul, thank God we found her again, or she found us. Geez, all this makes me think I should ride the Animalathon again. Time for sober second thought. Tim. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ------ Club Office: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (613) 230-1064 Web/mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cyberus.ca/~obcweb Newsletter: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cyberus.ca/~obcweb/Newsletter ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aVxiDo.a2i8p1 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
