TFCE 2010-B Riders

It was an epic day for four TCC B riders...Karen, Doug, Donna and Eric completed thier first century rides!
As per usual the TCC group met by the port-o-potty line at lot 7...it was a cool morning and the sun tried to peek through, but was absent for the remainder of the day. While we all took off together, we let the fierce and fiery group of Amy, Jim, Christian, Ray, Fran and Ron ride off our front, they were setting pace made for them! As they rolled out of sight, Donna had the only mechanical difficulty of the day...a flat. Tammy and I adjusted our layers, Eric set the pace and we headed off. I was not really ready for this century. I hadn't ridden as much as I had in previous years and felt it; my companions however, were riding their usual strong rides.

The Fantastic Four(above mentioned) started as novices on Scott's beginner rides last season and progressed quickly up the TCC alphabet. Eric and Donna started leading B rides, Doug was getting broke in on C, B and B+ rides! Karen and Dave, our resident tandem team could be seen at Ron's spin classes during the past winter and were soon showing up on for Spring rides, long and short! Tammy made up the rest of our group; a seasoned hill climber with four centurys this year, including an Adirondack Tour...this little flat century had her dozing, I think!

The first 50 miles were uneventful, really. This portion of the tour heads north and then west, wending through mostly residential areas...nice homes,plenty of stone walls and long grades. Neon-garbed Dartmouth police collecting overtime helped us through intersections...nice touch. Well, I started to bonk, big time...as I said I am not the rider I was last year and anything resembling an uphill grade was sending me towards the single digits. My great companions waited up for me periodically...showering me with GU, bonks, chomps, nuts, and mysterious powders which looked like a score from the north end of Hartford ( great line, I stole it from Eric)! I took 'em all!

The second leg of this journey follows the southern shoreline of RI. Beautiful scenes of Long Island Sound, sailboats and really expensive homes abound; pretty typical shoreline communities. The intersections started to blur together: neon cop, lefthand turn, tree, house, cornfield...the sky was growing grayer as the miles ticked by and the headwind was present all the time. As I rode down to yet another left turn, Tammy and Doug were hanging out, waiting for me. Donna and Eric had ridden on...they were on a PR mission and I was glad to hear they'd done so. At this point I'd lost track of the tandem. We had 20 or so miles to go and I was just counting them down...Doug and Tammy were still riding strong and I was hanging close...this last part of the century is quite scenic...corn fields, vinyards, and fields of veggies interspersed with pleasant looking homes surrounded by tall stone walls.

A spit of rain fell from the darkening sky, but never developed into anything more. By now I knew the tandem was behind us, but knew they were keeping each other company. We three took turns leading, along the shoreline and across the bridge by the big marina. Last year when I rode this century, the sun was shining and this was beautiful. I felt pretty good, (must have been that white powder!) and we all finished together. We hit 100 miles in the access circle and that was that. We found Donna and Eric at the registration area...they had 16.5 avg...A wonderful PR...Doug and Tammy had 16.3avg and I came in at 15.5...Karen and Dave were still back and we never connected with them...we'd no idea where their car was, but were confident they finished strong!

Scott Johnson's beginner ride is bringing some excellent riders into the club. While these centurys belong to each rider, I feel compelled to give him a great shout-out for his energy and enthusiasm each Saturday morning! Thanks to him I got to ride with Doug, Karen, Dave, Donna and Eric, all new and excellent cyclists.

And always a pleasure to ride with Tammy!