Gate-Junction-Gate

I decided to drive to work today, bike in the truck. Adam left a little early with Brad, and Edgardo drove also but was running a little late. Brad and Adam met me at my parking spot on Doncaster and then we all (sans Ed) started off together. A guy in a blue jersey and knickers took off in front of us just as we started. Adam rode a little ways to be social, then he turned around to restart his stopwatch at the Gate. When he came back he was motoring and had a guy in Hammergel shorts on his wheel. A little while later the Hammergel shorts guy lost Adam's wheel but then blue jersey guy got on Hammergel shorts guy's wheel for long enough to open a pretty big gap between him and me and Brad. I figured blue jersey guy lit his whole book of matches with that one and we'd catch him before the Bump.

Wildlife Encounter: A female turkey in the middle of the road. Might have been the same one as last week.

I stayed with Brad the rest of the way up - it was a good pace but I could have gone faster. At the Ranches Brad said it looked like we weren't going to catch blue jersey guy but I pointed out another guy with an optic yellow jacket that blue jersey guy had just passed so we'd at least catch HIM. And we did right before Big Shady Oak. Then we came around Chainbuster and saw that BJG was fading so we closed to within about 10 meters of him and hung there waiting for him to crack. Then when I was sure I could pass him and maintain a good effort for long enough to stay in front I went for it. I wasn't expecting to drop Brad too but I found myself alone with a half mile to go. Suddenly I heard someone coming from behind and I figured I blew it but it was Brad. We stayed together for a while longer and then I jumped again for a decisive victory.

There were lots of people at the Junction but the DCers were gone and Adam had left already too. So we went back down, and then it happened: Brad named a new feature on the Mountain this evening "Wounded Knee".

I'm working on Google Map images for all the location names, but in the meantime you can check out MyMapsOnGoogle


Not sure what happened, I'll do some recon on Saturday, but he was making the left turn and skidded and then he just high-sided it. He scraped up his knees pretty bad and torqued his leg joints but wasn't in serious condition. Good thing I was behind him and saw it happen otherwise I would have just gone home. I offered to get my truck and give him a ride hom and he accepted. Another guy that had been at the Junction offered to stay with him for a while. By the time I got started up in the truck though, he had already come most of the way down so he was about as good as he could have hoped for. I gave him a ride back to the office and I'm sure he'll be still in pain tomorrow.