09 Aug 2009.
A thick fog hung over the field as the riders slowly woke up for the last day; slowly meandering towards breakfast.
By the rider meeting, the fog had lifted to reveal a cloudless sky; however rain was predicted for the afternoon, so everyone wanted to get on the road quickly.
As the rider meeting droned on, a bank of storm clouds advanced across the sky; so much so that in less than an hour the blue sky had disappeared. The threat of rain was suddenly very real.
Once again, we departed in two waves. However, unlike every other day, nearly all the riders left with the first wave. The ride started slowly, riders warming up and testing their legs, but quickly evolved (once again) into a paceline.
Once the first paceline formed, attrition whittled the group until there were just 9: Howie, Lee, Sean, Steve, Ellen (from Day 1), David (from Day 3), Steve (whom I hadn't ridden with before), Gary (who worked for DCR, lived nearby, and was just riding with us on the last day), and myself.
Very quickly, Steve (new Steve) and Gary demonstrated their strength with long fast pulls on the front, so much so small gaps started to form in our paceline. Nothing serious, but enough that stronger riders filled the gaps, rather than cycle all the way to the back.
The pacelining continued until it was broken up by the day's only real climb, a four mile never-ending hill. One by one we suffered up this relentless hill, knowing what payoff waited at the top. 10 miles of descending. After a brief respite at the summit, the group raced down to the last rest stop.
The after-stop pacelines were far quicker than before, assisted by hills and rider motivation.
When I was handed my pull, I struggled to keep the pace high as I hammered into a headwind. After what felt like a miserably short pull, I pulled off to cycle back expecting to coast back 8 riders.Unfortunately my "miserable" pull had detonated our little group leaving only two riders (Sean and new Steve) on my wheel. This was going to be a very short recovery.
Together the three of us dug deep to keep the pace up. In no time, we were reeling in the 30 milers and then, the ride was done. We had reached the school; tired but satisfied. Not to long after we finished, as we were packing our bikes, a short small rain shower passed. We had beat the rain! A great way to end a great tour!
Distance: 54 miles
Climbing: 3120 ft
Ave Speed: 16.4 mph
Max Speed: 41.4 mph
Time: 3 hours 14 minutes 48 seconds