Aspirations of Argyle ride - 8/13/11

Regular Joined: Aug 30, 2006 Posts: 34 Location: Nisakyuna

Niine or so riders participated in the Aspirations of Argyle ride led by Bruce Curtiss on Saturday. No argyle socks, but Bruce showed up with his red steel Tommasini. Talk about a gem! It looked like it just came off the production line and belongs in an art museum. The 9:30 departure from the Saratoga BOCES had us in the high 60s with beautiful sunny skies as we left town and another busy day at the track. That being said, it sure felt like we were at the track when the gates open, as the first few miles started off pretty quick.

The Aspirations of Argyle cue sheet and elevation map show another well planned ride, with a good mix of hills throughout the first 35 miles out of a total of 66 miles and 3880 ft of climb. For those of you that don't realize it, ride leaders like Bruce do a "preview" ride of their routes days or weeks ahead of the planned ride to get a good feel for it, make sure the rest stops fall at a good spot as well as to ensure a safe, enjoyable and often challenging ride.

Credit also goes to the riders who showed up to put in a pretty good effort. We had fun, but it was a little above a relaxed pace at times. One mechanical with 20 miles to go, but even with a broken rear spoke and no use of the 53 chainring he made it back not far behind the lead pack. Everyone did at least a fair job of keeping a paceline through much of the ride - riding straight, pointing out hazards, not crossing wheels, taking reasonable pulls at the front and keeping an eye on our backs. We weren't the best navigators even with good cue sheets, so we finished at right around 70 miles at a 19.8 mph pace.

Put this one on your calendar for next year.

...in the meantime, don't forget to catch up on some mid-year preventative maintenance to get you through the rest of the riding season.