Sorry I'm a little late with this, but here is the ride we did for Paris-Roubaix Day.
Isaac, Matt, Myles and Julz met me in Conshy and Matt immediately ran into a metal gate because he didn't see it. We pace lined down to Port Royal and met Jude, then pace lined back to Spring Mill because Anna was at Miquon, but you can't get to Miquon from the path, so we went to Spring Mill then hopped on the road and took that to Miquon. There was much rejoicing.
From Miquon we headed back to Port Royal. Anna had done a duathlon the day before, so she was a fucking trooper just for showing up. Jude got sick after Hunterdon and it was his first time back on a bike since. A sick Jude still pulls 20mph on the flats like it's nothing. Myles and Julz are both Cat 4 youngins with Julz aiming for Cat 3 this summer. They made that known on every single hill. Fuck those guys.
When we hit PR, Isaac and Anna just fell back, Matt tried to keep pace with me but wasn't used to cobbles and came to a stop. He was unsure of how to start again, so I just yelled "sideways!" as I pulled away, trying to keep pace with Jude. Myles and Julz were already at the top.
I felt awful going up Port Royal, since it was my first ride since Hunterdon, and my back was still out. I knew Bells Mills was going to be a tough climb, so when we got to it, I just found a rhythm and got to the top at my own pace. I was third in line when we hit the climb, and I spit Isaac off pretty early. Myles kept a nice easy pace, and Matt followed him the whole way up. When I made the turn on to Germantown Ave, Myles and Matt started to pull a little more distance on me, and all of the sudden I hear "this is so much easier for me than the pace line was." as Julz just passes me like I was standing still. He's 25lbs lighter than I am, so again, fuck that guy.
After we beat ourselves up on the cobbles, we bombed down Springfield to Forbidden Drive and I hung back with Anna while everyone else took off. We regrouped at Lincoln Drive and rode into Manayunk together, but right as we got into town, Anna got a flat. We yelled for everyone, but they didn't hear us, so we got down to business. Anna got everything apart and ready for CO2 like a pro, but her CO2 went off in her hand. I gave her mine and none of it went into the tube. By then, Isaac had come back and gave her one of his CO2s and that went everywhere as well. Frusious, Anna filpped out while Isaac and I used pumps to get some air back into her tire. She said "thank you" and rode back to her car.
A (wo)man down, we headed towards The Wall. Per usual, I started dead last, with matt, Isacc, Jude, and the Cat 4 assholes ahead of me. Young and youngerer were gone; out of sight before I made the turn on the steep section. Matt dropped his chain just as we started. Isaac got passed by me exactly where he did the last time. The real surprise was that I caught and passed Jude. He just had his head down and was grinding up the hill and I caught him right as the steep was about to end, and when I reached the top, he was about 50yds back. I'm going to chalk it up to him coming off of an illness.
As we bombed back into town, we said goodbye to Jude at the tow path, and then rode back to Conshy, where I dropped off to go home. It was a really good ride, and I know I'm going to be looking for ways to lengthen it for next year. It's just a shame that we don't have more cobbles.
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