Take Me To Church
A recap of our Churches, Tavern and Baseball Diamonds ride is best sung to the Creedence Clearwater Revival melody, "PROUD DRAFTER".Left the Free House at 5:30,Riding with The Drafters every Monday night,And I never lost one minute of drinking,Worrying ‘bout the way I could have ridden.Big wheel keep on turning,B2 Bomber keep on burning,Rolling, rolling, rolling on his gravel bike.Dropped a lot of guys on Matz Rd,Pumped a lot of pain down Whippoorwill,But I never saw the good side of the DraftersUntil I hitched a ride with Tick Tock and Too HipRolling, rolling, rolling on with the Drafters,If you come down the hill on Woodland,Bet you gonna find some drone overhead.You don’t have to worry ‘cause you have no legs left,Drafters on the ride are happy to give.Rolling, rolling, rolling with the Drafters.Rolling, rolling, rolling with the Drafters.Rolling, rolling, rolling with the Drafters.Yeah, so Bomber shows up on his gravel bike, since it was still on the car rack from his 100mile gravel race in Kansas the DAY BEFORE. Too Hip, The Italian Job and Captain Joe were silly enough to think he would show signs of fatigue and challenged his lead right out of the Free House gate. My own silly inclination left me before reaching Martinsville, about the same time the pack left me. But, I realized that it isn't a lack of fitness that left me in the dust. It's the lack of a gravel bike! I'm sure the wider tires and lower pressure = faster BrickO, right? This new gravel bike is really a necessity, or at least a scientific experiment, and not a hedonistic pursuit. And so my birthday list grows.
We had a crew of 18 Drafters, including Newbie Kim "Sandlot". Remember the movie scene when Ham is having a verbal sparring match with the captain of the rival baseball team? His crushing blow is, "You throw like a GIRL!". Sandlot was overhead sparring with her mate, Whamo, and may have uttered a similar verbal assault. To be honest, she uttered a totally different Sandlot quote, something like, "you're killing me Smalls", but that didn't have the same bite for the blog as, "you bike like a girl", so I took artistic liberties. But what if my artistic rendition of a silly Sandlot quote led to marital strife? So, I must acknowledge my exaggeration and elaboration and now I've droned on way too long.
The Italian Job made an appearance. Like a proud papa, checking in on his babies (Colnago, Cervelo and Scott) making sure they are being well-loved and cared for by their adoptive Drafters. Not that anyone (Drone Master) has been accused of neglect, like failure to check air pressure before a ride... A huge thanks to Colin (Italian Job), Scott, Paul and Josh at Cronometro for keeping us rolling. With those kudos, I have to give a little dig, too (cause that's how I roll). As previously mentioned, I was dropped somewhere near Martinsville, and excited to see the lead peloton waiting for me at the top of Matz Rd. Or not. Turns out the pause was for a mechanical: Too Hip needed his seat adjusted. Seems like he always needs something- at least this time is wasn't something absorbent. Anyway, the Italian Job was quick to render mechanical support, given that he lives and breathes bike design, maintenance and fitting. I was bursting with anticipation as he reached into his tool bag, expecting a gold plated Park Tool. Looks like somebody forgot to check their bag twice.... empty. He will be on the Horribly Hilly course this Saturday offering mechanical support and I'm sure the gold plated Park Tool will be at the ready.Drone Master skillfully maneuvered through the course, staying ahead of the peloton to capture the action. Imagine his surprise when Tobacco City Boy and Dan-yelly appeared ahead of B2 Bomber. They apparently opted to ride the course backwards. That's one way to take the lead! Here is the link to the Drone video:Drone Master's Drafter video linkTired and hungry from our ride, the crew was happy to reach the beer and beverage refueling station. Nurse Sully and Party Planner (P2) Ann had secured the Free House patio. We celebrated E$ and Cookie Monster's last singles ride before heading off to get married this weekend. May the force be with you. And, we celebrated Coach Arms' home stretch before she "drops the puck". Due date June 20. May the force get baby out quickly and safely. A couple of my friends, Eric and Kristine, biked to the Free House- on their Harley. When Coach Arms walked in, I heard Eric exclaim to his girlfriend, "Did you see that woman?" To which Kristine clarified, "The pregnant one?". Eric confessed, "The athletic one. Is she pregnant?" Ahh, to be 9 months pregnant and still be chiseled from stone. Barefooter and I agreed that nobody ever commented on our athletic stature at 9 months pregnant. Perhaps they were inspired to contribute to the Save the Whales campaign. I hope so, as it would mean I contributed something other than surliness to the world. That's a really long time to go without a beer.
This coming Monday, June 11, we will prepare for the Horribly Hilly Hundreds with a taxing ride called Take Me To Church. You will have plenty of time to repent your sins on the way to church as it is a LONG 17% climb. E Money and CM Wille have inspired this ride up Vermont Church.
Please say, "I do" and join the Draft. The Short Pour option is the Brains and Braun ride we did earlier in the season, cutting off of Union Valley on Braun and looping back to KP. I do believe team Power Watt will be leading up the Short Pour but please communicate via GroupMe app to verify if you plan to attend. REMEMBER THERE IS CONSTRUCTION HEADING INTO CROSS PLAINS, so we will have to follow the detour to get across Hwy 14. I did recon on Friday, and even in the rain, the two stretches of packed dirt by St Francis Xavier were easily ridable. THERE IS GRAVEL TURNING LEFT ONTO BARLOW FROM MINERAL POINT. 
Garmin link: login to Garmin Connect and then open this link. Save it as a course. Then plug in your Garmin and share it. Garmin link Vermont ChurchDownload and print PDF map: Vermont ChurchSHORT POUR: See cut off on Take Me To Church map or follow this one, which has even a shorter short cut:
Download and print PDF map: Vermont ChurchDraft responsibly,BrickO