Finally... The Tour to Tanglewood 2011

So, I woke early and made my way to the 2011 Tour to Tanglewood on Saturday morning. I'd downed my ritual 1/2 sandwich of peanut butter, laded up the truck and was rolling into the parking lot with about 15 minutes until team photo time. All was swell. The forecast was 54 degrees and rainy, so I knew there'd be some layering in the plan, but I changed my mind and limited myself to sleeves. Time to go and find the team.

This year I would ride with Team MS, a team of folks I mostly didn't know who took in us ex-Dell strays. Never was this more obvious than in the team photo, where we ex-Dell boys were in the back row and the rest of the team were in matching jerseys. Rag. Tag.

Ricky and, well, Ricky.

With the photo finished, it was time to line up for the race and I stayed close to my pals, the two Rickys. I wasn't clear about how long I wanted to ride, I just wanted to take it easy. The start from the line was staggered, so it was a bit of a wait in the cold before we headed out. Once we began, however, I was off. And, I was aware how cold it was. Brrr....

As I made my way out of the park, I'd pulled a few feet in front of my pals and decided, on a climb, to pull away so I could stop and take a pic of them. Damn if I didn't pull far enough ahead and they whipped by before I realized it. Yep, I overestimated my own skill. As if I had any. Ugh. My pals past me, I was left to play catch up. And I was in no mood for that. Instead, I turned the volume up on my tunes and started at a full mosey pace.

Pleased with myself and be-boppin' down the road, a cyclist came by and pinched my butt. Now, this might startle some folks, but I have a heck of a butt and, in fairness, I've startled my share of folks myself. I figured I had 50/50 odd I'd know the pincher. Sure enough, it was the Super Engine and all-around-pal, Chad. We caught up a bit and he offered for us to pull our way to the Ricky's, but I shut that down with the acknowledgement that I'm a lazy fellow and he was gone.

The Super Engine bids adieu.

A couple of unfriendly ups-and-downs along Cooper Rd and I realized I was riding along the old Jostens routes that KP and I rode so often. I hadn't been down this way in years. I was so pleased about seeing the old stomping grounds that I shifted down from 'Mosey' to 'Crawl' and just drunk it in. Lovely area out there. Speaking of lovely, there was a photo station out that way and they were able to capture some loveliness of their own.

Not balding, just lookin' like I am.

The ride got me huffin' and puffin' and, next thing you know, I had crossed the switch for the 22miler and was heading along the 35 mile path. My plan chosen, I tooled on happily, marking time until the next rest stop.

Midway is about mid-way

I started to cramp in my thighs about 25 miles in. At the next stop, I walked it off and took back to the saddle. I was refreshed and rode in happily enough. Unfortunately, I look like I was dying when I crossed the line.

Note the look of exhaustion.

I rode right past the finish line, past the ladies handing out medals and straight to the car. A quick clothes change (sporting the new DFL > DNF shirt!) and I was ready to celebrate. Now, understand this - no ride handles their folks better post-ride than the T2T. Nobody. The food is out-of-sight and the massage tent is closeby. Some cheesy cover band was playing a collage of U2 and Police tunes. Me? I was all smiles as I walked to the massage tent. Five minutes at the massage tent and I was revived!

Our team tent had a bunch of good folks there. Chad was there, as were the two Ricky's. One guy on our team, Jimmy, actually introduced himself and pointed out that we'd ridden a few days before at the SECCA CX race.

It has just started to sprinkle when Ricky P. and I decided to go get some food. The free lunch was Chicken Marsala from Carabas. We had that and a couple of PBR's. Unfortunately, I was coming off some medicine that makes beer not potable and, as PBR is about as low as you can go already, I had to switch to a soda. So it goes.
While Ricky and I were talking, we ran into another Dell alumni, Jack. It was like old home week at the bike race!

Ricky P and Jack

Lunch officially downed, we took a turn at the 'chocolate dip your own Krispy Kreme' tent and partook of the necessary ambrosia. I am a fan of KK chocolate iced doughnuts and I can tell you with certainty that they're best fresh dipped. As Ricky pointed out, it's like a ganache. And I like ganache.

As we were getting ready to head out, we saw Josh, another Dell fellow, and it just seemed like it was time to get a photo of all these cycling Dell alumni. Cool stuff.