Loop the Cooch

Was it considered a man ride ? Maybe, if so it had some good man ride points. 4 hours=240 plus 2 sketchy roads and one good climb but points were lost for two stops needed by one of those teamster that joined me for the Loop the Cooch. Bad weather was predicted but we were going to suck it up and just ride no matter what came. It was also going to give me a chance to start with my plan, destroy team awesome from within. Screw with their minds, Brandon just happened to be first.

Heading south on 12, the new great riding road because of the massive shoulder, unfortunately it was very sand covered right now. What makes it great? The rumble strip that acts like an invisible wall to keep the cars on their side of the road. In early season riding that's a good thing. A quick stop at Velocity Bike in Orilia before the next stage. The temptation to stop at the casino was there, seems to have been the destination of the masses so once past we pretty much had the road to ourselves.

Last time I did this loop the road was under major construction and I spent the remainder of the day cleaning the layers of mud of the Chuck Norris bike. Chuck was not impressed, nor was I. This wouldn't be the case today, perfect roads, new pavement all the way to Washago. Some great scenery along the rivers edge. Stop number two, refueling for Brandon by means of chocolate bars. Of course when your stopped in a small town there are always people looking and questions of how far are you going etc. We did get shown up though by a woman driving her Chrysler's with the top down, as she drove by she gave us the thumbs up.

What are the chances that we would have perfect clear roads the whole way around? Slim, none, couldn't happen and it didn't. The next 30 minutes were spent jumping from track to track of ice packed pavement. There were no crashes but a couple close calls. Just after this was were I started to play with Brandon, he started to half wheel me, I let him continue to drive the pace up for a while, let's break the big man today. After a short time I brought it up and brought up the rule, the Top Gear rule. The rule to live by on long rides, if you break, man or equipment, you're on your own to catch up. This rule slowed him up just a little . Just a little, for a couple minutes, then it started again. And then again.

There was no death or destruction, 4 hours of riding around the lake had us back in the driveway. I spent that time subconsciously corrupting Brandon with my Jedi mind tricks. The results won't come out until race day. He may or may not stop dead on the run and just wait there patiently for a cougar to come. Maybe. It was a great day away from the trainer. Hoping it continues.