Thursday, Tuesday and a Few Tidbits In-Between

I know, I know. I am lax in my blogligations. Gotta lot to do and if I had a boss, he’d be glaring at me for doin’ this. So, I glare from the inside out.

THURSDAY
The Grimpeurs rode in Morgantown and the surrounding area on Thursday last. There was a nice turnout for Rachel who was visiting from the state of Washington and looking for a ride. She claimed to have done some racing out there, it showed. Even on her dads dysfunctional Trek, she was able to stay with Boyscout, Sandbag, Big Daddy Birdman and Luke— I’m your father—Charles. She CRUSHED the Fat Cat on the hills, oh well.

Rachel shall go down in the Grimpeur annals as Rainier. She claims to have never climbed that mountain but she sure rode like she had. She’s welcome back anytime she’s in town. Rainier is only the second female Grimpeur. Since this is a new season, she is the current leader in the female division, congratulations. No offense, but may your reign be short. The Fat Cat likes being beat up on by the ladies. In these parts, “girl power” is not just a lot of talk.

Since we’re handing out names that aren’t likely to be used much, Let’s move on to Luke. He has been threatening to make the Grimpeur ride all summer. He finally made it Thursday. Unfortunately, it was because he was done with workin’ for the man in PA. He’s moving to a new job in his ancestral home of Michigan. Being the Master of the obvious, the Fat Cat chooses, “Skywalker” as Luke’s Grimpeur name. He will be missed. The Cat suspects he may be back , though. After a few weeks of rolling along endless ribbons of pancake flat roads, Skywalker will be Jonesin’ for a roll in the hay with mountain momma.

Anyway, the Thursday Grimpeurs headed out of Morgantown on Dug Hill, cranked up Snake Hill (where the Fat Cat got distanced), went through Masontown, headed for Reedsville via Gibson and other nameless back roads, took Born Road just to add a few little climbs and subtract a few cars, and then flew down Summer School Road (the only time The Fat Cat contributed to any dropping). A short cool down on the Rail trail brought them home.

TUESDAY
There was a surprising host of Grimpeurs at the base of Mud Pike awaiting The Fat Cat’s arrival Tuesday. Lord MonkeyButt, resplendent in Soviet era Jersey, made the trip over from Carmichaels PA. Goldfish, Phallose and Sandbag also circled the parking lot like sharks looking for fresh meat. The Cat hung around for about a mile up the Pike but, again, faltered. He was about 1 mile per hour slower than earlier in the year. Blame it on weight loss/diet, mucous, lack of miles, old age, genetics—take your pick. Regardless, He was far enough arrears that Goldfish came back down and paced The Cat up the final slopes. Let it be known that MonkeyButt tackled Mud Pike with gusto and removed his backside from The Cat’s sight well before the summit. This is only mentioned to counter a bit of razzing later on.

The traditional route along Skyline, down Jumonville and back across Coolspring-Hopwood-Fairchance road was taken, but with a little mustard on it. During the Bullfeathers post ride cool down and carbo load, one rider commented that The Grimpeur ride had been turned into the Wednesday hammer-fest (which had its last hurrah for the summer last week.) It wasn’t that bad but it sure wasn’t sightseein’ pace. That was great, because, apparently, The Cat has been seeing too many sights as of late.

Of note:
54.6 mph was attained on the way down the mountain. Sandbag flatted at the bottom of the mountain with only MonkeyButt there to escort him back to the waiting group. Goldfish and Phallose lit it up between Hopwood and Fairchance. The Cat grabbed a wheel and hung on for dear life. Goldfish kept making sure The Cat was on. What a guy! Not so attentive, The Cat, less than a mile from home, noticed the rest of the train had become unhitched. Out of the goodness of his heart he let go the two engines and slowed. With no sign of the trailers, he telephoned MonkeyButt, thinking they may have had another mechanical. “No! We did not get another flat— smart-ass,” was all the Fat Cat got for his concern. It was really quite comical.

You can read another point of view at http://themisanthropiccyclist.blogspot.com/2008/09/bubba-grimp.html He also has a lnk to his gps data that is very cool.

TIDBITS IN-BETWEEN
Several Grimpeurs raced the Mountain State Classic road race Sunday. Phallose (Phil), who is improving all the time, put in a great ride, finishing close to the holder of the Stars and Stripes jersey, VeloBetsy (who won the female division but has never graced the Grimpeurs with her exalted presence.) Slider(Marc G.) was in there mucking it up. Even Big Daddy Birdman(Don D.) braved the race which included two major climbs. Congrats to all. Here’s a link to the results http://www.iplayoutside.com/Events/?eid=2008/09/11237r.html

Big Daddy tried to entice The Fat Cat into bringing up the rear of Sunday’s race, but The Cat had more important things to do. The grimplets accompanied the Fat Cat on a Sunday rail trail ride. The whole crew stayed together at speed on a tandem (Courtesy of Big Daddy) with a trail-a-bike behind. Got in 30 miles and no one got too tired and no one didn’t get too tired. It was great! Even the two flat tires weren’t that annoying. The first came as a result of an old corroded screw. The tire was holding air but the offending object was hitting the fork. It had to be excised and the act was accompanied by a rushing exodus of air. We had to flag down a rail trailer because we forgot a pump. Those people are unexpectedly intense and it’s hard to get their attention. Thanks to Paul on a mountain bike for you help. The two tubes we had were dry rotted but we were able to patch the original tube. Later on we saw Mrs. Talks-With-Legs just before a whoosh of air issued from the rear tire. A large piece of glass was excised this time. The Grimplets figured someone wanted us to walk so we sauntered along the last half mile instead of bothering about for a pump and a patch.

The only regret The Fat Cat had about not "competing" Sunday was that he would have finally beaten Aerobinator, who DNF'd.

Talks-With-Legs has been Grimping around the Alps and will be at the Worlds in Italy this weekend. A full report is expected upon his return.