Tripleshot Cycling

I am not worthy. I can only read and weep.
No way in hell am I riding.
All the best!

Mary

I have commitments on Saturday soon after 9, so I'm going to start early. I'm going to get my orifice out of bed to meet some other folks at Cook St. Bucks at 5:30 a.m. so we can get a Buckshot or three in before hitting Circle Drive.

Terra will park her black Mazda 3 (zoom zoom) close to the petting zoo entrance at 6:00 am. We will have oranges bananas and extra water there. It will also b open to store yer stuff.

See you in the dark

Rooks

Kate are you coming? It looks like I am being dragged (this time kicking and screaming for real) down there for an early start. I can't believe I have been coerced for a second time this year!

A very reluctant in.

Does anyone have a plan for counting laps? 100km should be about 63 laps if my estimation of the loop is correct, and I know for sure that I will lose track of which lap I am on by lap 12 if not earlier...

Hey Rolf - I have to be back by 9:00 as well, so I'm up for an early start - rolling well before 6:00 (weather providing)

And Deb, glad to see you're making it and we'll have to do a few laps together

Definitely looks like Rolf doesn't have time to ride.

I'm writing this because some people might want to skip coffee and just join us for the start.
Just to reiterate--we're meeting at Starbucks in Cook St Village at 6:00 am
Others (like Rolf) are going a bit early.
The plan is to have a coffee and, in Barton's words: " start riding the Beacon Hill circle at 6:30 AM."
I suppose we start counting the laps at the petting zoo.

Some of us will do 100 km (62.5 laps) and others 100 miles (100 laps)
See you out there, rain or shine
Weather forecast says: Cloudy. 30 percent chance of drizzle in the afternoon. High plus 5.

What, are you lot all still napping?

I hardly qualify to report on this morning's misadventure, as I slept in, turned up an hour late, and stopped riding when I decided I'd had enough, Barton's urging that I continue until his odometer rolled over to 100k notwithstanding. All I can say in my defence is that today, the sun was up 51% of the duration it was on June 20, and today, I rode about that much of my June outing. So it is all cosmologically OK.

I had figured the pack would be moving significantly more slowly than it did in June, given weather, fitness, shortbread-doping, and what I assumed would be a much smaller group of persons of madness sharing the load. But we were hovering north of 30 km/h the whole way, in no small part because there were at least twenty men and women circling the park at our zenith, maybe more.

I think that the vast majority got their 100 km in.

In all seriousness, this kind of silliness encapsulates so much of what I love about TSC. We're up early. We're doing something stupid and epic all at once. We're brushing up against memories of our Tuesday and Friday forays in the park. We're riding in a cooperative, organized fashion. The conversation is friendly. The forum arguments over the project were stupendously literate and funny. We ended with coffee, thanks to Simon and Deb's generous gift.

There's something magical about the solstice rides and I'm so glad to have been part of both of them. Thanks, everyone.

That was fun! However, it is 7:30 on Sunday morning and I am not even thinking about riding! I would not have thought 100 K around Beacon could be that tough! There is 10 metres of elevation gain each circle and I tell you, I sure felt each and every one of those 10 m during the last 5 or 6 laps!

Well, like Eric S said, "That was not near as boring as I thought it would be!". He sounded surprised! Don't know why. Who would not want to ride in circles for 3+ hours on a very dark, some what damp and somewhat chilly Solstice morning!? There was a good crowd with 18 or 19 of us in pack at one time. Most of us started at 6:30 with a few, Dave, John, Dave, Simon, Deb, Terra, Steve, starting much earlier with John and Dave finishing in the dark!

The back of the pack was really nice! Almost warm and with a great draft. Seemed the closer we got to the front of the pack the colder it got! But then just one lap latter we were at the back again, protected and sheltered and pulled along. The consistency and the rhythm of the ride was very cool, something we rarely experience on our regular routes.

The whole morning was great. It was really nice to see so many out for this and to see the camaraderie and co-operation that we experienced. Everyone that started in the pack stayed as a pack and finished together. I must congratulation Mark F for being so strong and being there all the way to encourage me along. And to Steve and Rob and the other quicker riders who were patient with the rest of us and made sure we all stayed together.

I was rather (read "vey") tired at the end and did not participate in the victory lap. I just did not want to see that tiny little rise as Dallas turns to Douglas again, at least for a few days!!

Great ride and great morning everyone. Thank you!!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Barton

That was a total hoot. I'm pretty glad this appears to be a biannual, Tripleshot, tradition-in-the-making.

I started around 5:45, and only took a one-lap rest at 40, to wrap things up just before 9. Laps 8-13 were a freaking gong show as Rooks rocketed in front of Dave B. and me for lap after lap of 33-35 km/h. When it was our pull, we stupidly kept the pace up. If we'd kept going like that, I doubt I would have made it past lap 30. But as Barton said, once the main group got established after 6:30, it was surprisingly smooth and felt nearly effortless, right to the end—despite this being twice my usual mileage these days.

Thanks to all instigators and supporters.

Great conversations really made the difference (though it also made it tough to keep the lap count going!) Mark Ford's tales from his youth carried me from laps 42-55-ish, a key period before the final push to 62. Even Alan and I had some good craic, when he wasn't chanting gutturally and rolling his eyes dramatically back into his head.

Speaking of pagans, apparently Stonehenge was open for business over the weekend, with the properly costumed being permitted into the forbidden stone circle itself. Here are a few choice images:



And, of course, the obligatory image of a pagan who found an orifice in which to insert his head: