Take Me To Church April 5
It's hard to land on one most favorite musician. But if my hand was forced, I would go with Bob Seger. Growing up on a small family farm in southern Wisconsin, I have fond memories of my Mom blasting Seger through the Advent speakers such that we could hear him singing throughout the house and well into the tobacco fields. I thought of Bob Seger Monday night.
Seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
Weather was lovely, she was queen Monday night
There in Dane County with the spring peepers playing low
And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she led me, oh so tight
Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then
Against the wind
We were ridin' against the wind
We were youngish and strong, we were ridin'
Against the wind
And the miles rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded by Drafters I thought were my friends
Found myself further and further from my home and I
Guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was living to ride and riding to live
Never worried about paying, or even how much I owed
Moving eight miles an hour for most of the time
Breaking all of the rules that would bend
I began to find myself searching
Searching for shelter again and again
Against the wind
Little something against the wind
I found myself seeking shelter
Against the wind
Well those Drafter's days are past me now
I've got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out
Against the wind
I'm still ridin' against the wind
I'm older now but still ridin'
Against the wind
19 Drafters, including one Newbie, Badger, ventured out against cross and head winds. Where was the tail wind, you wonder? We wondered the same. Duracell and Queenie left at 4PM, transmitting warnings back to HQ about the conditions, which were largely ignored. After all, how reliable is intel from a source without a clean Drafter kit ready for Monday night?
Tough enough to ride against the wind, but not with two toddlers in tow, Coach Arms opted for wind resistance from her trainer.
Speedy and Footer, collectively meeting the weight requirement to ridin' against the wind, departed shortly after. The FOG (fast old guys) FOG (feeling overly generous), offered to catch the 2 XX and pull them home. This only fueled the duos fire. Speedy struggled a bit to make the turns, but saw the positive side. "That was a lot of time under tension." I'm no mathematician, but there is likely an equation to describe this phenomenon. Our resident medical physicist, LuLu, observed that anyone under 160 pounds needed to lean at approximately a 45-degree angle to keep ridin' against the wind. At that weight to lean ratio, Speedy was parallel with the ground. LuLu was throwing around the p=mv equation, which I looked up. Basically, in no uncertain terms, it means that Gopher's brownies from last week kept me upright and should be consumed at a higher velocity.
Cookie Monster and E$ have another strong XX Drafter ridin' against the wind:
Columbus and Newbie, Badger, could be the smartest of the XX Drafters. They constructed a 9 mile route consisting entirely of a tail wind. Pretty sure they stole ours. Columbus humbly declared, "WE CRUSHED IT."
The B Team showed incredible Drafter spirit, taking turns drafting behind Vintage. Facetiously, LuLu scoffed, "Feels like we are going 5 mph". Looking at my Garmin, we were cranking out 5.1mph. Skipper thought his Garmin actually read 0mph on the stretch home, ridin' against the wind. The wind was ripping through the valleys such that the telephone wires were howling. It sounded like F16s flying overhead.
The A Team suffered under the same wind conditions, but apparently found a segment of tail wind on Church Rd. Rimshot topped out at 47mph. I guess if the spirit moves you, it really moves you. Not paying heed to the sand and pothole riddled conditions of Whippoorwill Road, FOG was focused on capturing a Strava segment. "I finally slowed down when I went off the road" rejoiced Rimshot. The spirit wasn't so generous with Blurple, who joined the FLAT TIRE CLUB. Booker J was singing another Bob Seger hit song, "Horizontal Bop". Cross-winds are fierce when a snot rocket lands in the next county.
The Drafter ride for April 5 will Take Me To Church. B team departs 4:30, A team at 5PM. Back by popular demand, Pizza from Glass Nickel will be provided. If there is enough interest, we can discuss ordering logistics, but next week, it is on the house. The Brick House.
GPS link: Take Me To Church GPS
HINCAPIE STORE UPDATE: Polar vest and polar long sleeve jerseys have been added to the store, open through April 5.
Hincapie Drafter Store Link 2021
An additional HINCAPIE STORE LINK for older kits will be available soon, likely later this week or next.
DIRTY DRAFT UPDATE: we are predicting many new dirty members to the Wednesday night rides. CamRock are Quarry Ridge are open, with Blackhawk and Pleasant View drying out quickly thanks to sun and wind. Look for updates on GroupMe. Captain Joe and Ninja provided some new MTB porn, and rumor has it that Dark Knight and Duracell have new MTBs waiting to get dirty. Give some serious thought to joining Capital Off-Road Pathfinders, or support them by ordering a MTB jersey (10% back to CORP).
Draft responsibly,
BrickO