French Toast, Steak Tartar, and The Bandit

We did the Casa Grande Century this last Sunday, and it was fun--got to have time to eat at Denny's before the ride started. We took the lead from our RBA and had French Toast--Later, our RBA pulled the pace line for miles, and we said it must be that French Toast she had for breakfast! So Steve and I gave her the new handle, "French Toast"


My bike fits neatly into the back of 22X


Susan, our Beloved RBA, had ridden a 200 Km the day before.


The first ride of 2006, and Steve's third time to ride the Casa Grande Century.

Well, right away we jumped on a pack and rode in different pacelines. There were about 200 people spread out on the road--but it was fun to ride in a pack, then move up to a faster pack, and kind of leap-frog our way up. Everyone was friendly and we talked to many people. These GABA Phoenix guys were different from the GABA Tucson fellows--GAY Buh Tucson guys seem to be old and grumpy--Whereas the Phoenix people were all a mixture of young and old. Even women road--and they were fit and they road fast! Everybody was enjoying themselves.

At the first controle they had food and water. Steve and I stuffed our pokets and kept going, as we're used to fast five-minute stops on brevets. Most people however stopped and talked to friends and visited. Some people turned around or went a different route to do the metric century. We had been riding in a paceline with three young women that pulled our group right along--they turned off to do the metric century and they looked strong. As we were leaving, I over-heard one of the girl's boyfriend saying to another guy, "Holy shit, she's killing us..."

Steve and I pushed on--and most of the time we had a tough headwind... We meet up with French Toast and she pulled and pulled and pulled! Dang! Susan has a coach--a virtual coach--a thing she does on the web--he calls her sometimes, hmmm--but she will not give up any coaching secrets! Steve and Susan kept talking about food, and the matter of SteakTartar came up over and over again. All I really heard is that it's illegal, what ever the hell it is!


We actually pulled in a few stragglers thru Eloy and on to the big lunch in Casa Grande! Gentle Readers, you must know that the ride cost $20 to enter, and after December 31st, the ride amount was up to $30. Well I decided I would not pay--and ride as a Bandit. I didn't get the commerative Casa Grande socks--Bummer! But I did go to the lunch and they had a ton of food so really I didn't feel too guilty.


Peanut Butter and chocolate cake--Susan's super-secret training formula revealed!

What can I say, without Susan to pull, Steve and Yours struggled through the head wind, and it got stronger the last 17 miles of State Route 87 back to Chandler. But actually we were riding pretty strong ourselves, a far cry from last time I was on this road. That was Paul Layton's brevet this last September... O! I will not forget that ride for as long a I live! We affectionately call the the Hunt Hwy the Grunt Hwy. We were glad to be off 87. Only a few miles to go, and suddenly no head wind!

We got stuck at a light on Grunt Hwy, and a pack of riders came up behind us. We started out, but they were going so slow--I wanted to be done, mes amis! We got up to the front and broke away and just hauled ass--every light to the finish was green for us and we road like out pants were on fire! I know those guys behind us hit every light and had to wait!


Yours at the end of the ride. We did the 100 miles in just over 6 hours--that is pretty darn fast for Steak Tartar and The Bandit, and considering the headwind. There is no doubt in my mind that riding in a paceline is the way to go, mes amis. And, what the Hell, over Christams I ate and drank to much and put on a few pounds--but this will quickly burn away.

Just so glad I'm back in the saddle and feeling strong after several weeks off!

Owt