September 20: Easy Street
Sweet 16 showed up for Vintage night but only 3 in the original Voler Drafter jersey. Some have gotten lost, and others lost their luster. BrickO's jersey drew many comments (not to be confused with compliments) from the Drafters. Cannibal: BrickO, did you used to be much larger? LuLu: BrickO, is that a parachute? Is that your B minus jersey? Points all well taken. I think our Drafter 10-year anniversary jersey might be a Hincapie version of this vintage jersey.
Cookie Monster was going to bail on the ride, as E$ was still at work and she hasn't trained the canine Millie to watch over their toddler, but remembering it was vintage night, she donned her Voler and made the Draft! Coach Arms & Footer wore the original red and blue Hincapie jersey, vintage in its own right.
GrannyZilla showed up at 4:38PM with a big decision: chase down the 4:30 group or hang with the 5PM crowd? Her trusty Bianchi steed was recently outfitted with new chainrings (who knew those shiny chainrings had a purpose?), giving GrannyZilla to confidence to wait. And wait. And wait. The 5PM crew was held up. Again. Waiting on Cannibal. He paid his dues and made amends by pulling all the way down Airport Rd. The Drafters would have let him pull all the way home had it not been for an inconvenient road closing.
Rain fell steady for most of the day, but the skies cleared just in time for the Draft.
It was a short flight on Airport Road, thanks to road construction. Captain Joe had done recon the day before and gave the Drafters a clear runway. Clearly, his copilot, Tennille, was not on board.
Cannibal's reign came to an end at the road closure, and the pace settled a bit. Until it didn't. Skipper, feeling spunky in his vintage 1994 purple jersey, had enough residual Race Across the West fitness to make our quads burn. Granny kept referring to Skipper as Sniper, possibly because once he took aim, we all fell. Or maybe she just pays as much attention to Drafter handles as she does changing gears.
Booker J, too proud to surrender in a pace line, claimed to have a "rock in my shoe".
There was no way Gopher was pulling up short. After reaching a career high 2k miles in 2020, he has his eye on the 3k prize in 2021. Way to dig deep, Gopher!
We had a Draft by proxy, all the way from Santa Barbara, California! Drone Master was rocking a vintage Drafter headband as he drafted responsibly, yielding at the horse crossing.
The season in turning. Sunlight is fading and temperatures required a fire for the post-draft draft. This year, Z Wrecks upped his fire pit game. No more lawn fires. GrannyZilla thought conditions were too moist to ignite a flame. Little trust she had in the hard wood.
Belle and Bomber came to enjoy the camp fire, and to share with us Belle's latest adventure: a 166 mile gravel race. From crits to gravel races, this beauty has become a beast!
Tick Tock and company took the vintage theme to Door County for the ride of the century.
In other Drafter sports news, Tree of Rown conquered Ironman WI. Congrats! Check out the support signs... lots of love in the Rowntree family!
We will continue to shorten the drafts, hopeful to ride through September and possibly the first Monday in October. Next week, we will draft Easy Street.
END OF THE YEAR 50 MILE DRAFT will be on Saturday, October 9 at 9AM. Awards to follow. If you have done something really dumb, we've noticed. And will celebrate that absurdity in true Drafter fashion.
Draft responsibly,
BrickO