When you have a craving to ride your bike and a craving for food, there is no better group to “feast with” thanAkron
 |
| Cake Anyone? You Betcha!!! Feast your eyes on this ROMEO! |
When you have a craving to ride your bike and a craving for food, there is no better group to “feast with” than
The ROMEOs follow the guiding ways of their Fearless Leader, none other than the shooting for the moon (234,000 life time miles), Dr. Tom Schulter, who selects their weekly Tuesday lunch rides and generates the needed “cue sheets” … occasionally fraught with directional flaws – worthy of a good ribbing from “the gang”!
Always check those details, West versus East references, right turns versus left turns! And, if you are not careful, Dr. Tom might even plan a route using one of his ancient collectible 30 year old maps…where roads no longer exist today. But, DO NOT FEAR!
Dr. Tom…the best ever “Cluster Chaperon” for great group rides!
Obey the good doctor’s prescription,
“Don’t get lost…just “follow me” to the moon!”
The cue sheets and map references, however useless, are not necessary for ROMEO rides. All you need to do is follow behind “his behind” and his rear end watcher…Sponge Bob. Dr. Tom has never “lost a sheep” in the flock that he so skillfully shepherds!
I would follow this guy anywhere…and have!
Besides shepherding the flock, and his awesome cartography skills, and his to “drool for” model train collections, that consumes the entire massive basement of his Bath Township
He is like NASA’s Control Center
Go figure!!!
On Tuesday morning, April 26th, he issued a “NO GO!” decision do (or is that…a doo doo decision) to his interpretation of the “Doppler”.
Dang it!
Rain, rain go a way!
Come again another day!
...
PART I – Riding through the Valley on Tuesday – April 26th (two other parts are coming!)
8:15 am - Received email cancellation from Dr. Tom Schlueter that ROMEO's scheduled lunch ride to Bucci's, white table clothes and fine Italian eats, in Brecksville was a rain out. Dang! When is it ever going to stop???
Might as well start blogging!
11:15 am - COW drops "Pedaling Peeps" into the blog post bucket and then looks out to the window. Say WHAT? Sun rays and crystal blue skies!
Having a COW, the second year bike rider (a veal cutlet) thinks this out loud, loudly:
“That does it! I am going to get on my bike and ride down to the valley to meet up with those ROMEOs at Fishers...the back up lunch stop, better known as you better get out of the house dude, "drive ins" (or, ride ins…for the really crazy ones).
Someone better have a good explanation as to why today's ride is cancelled! It’s gorgeous outside!
11:16 am - I lycra up and break out a new Ebay purchased bike shirt (only $15!) to address my cancellation “beef” with the “Spinning Nation” of my ROMEO brethren. And besides, I will never turn down a great lunch…seasoned with great conversation. 11:35 am – Houston
I assure second oldest son that I will be back before 2:30 pm...once I getting my biking “fix” and give Dr. Tom the “third degree”. He looks concerned. I assure him with my best vow, “I cross my heart and hope to die! I will be here on time.” He smirks in doubt.
11:45 am – I am heading due west, pedaling as fast as I can, going down the decent of Portage Trail to the valley floor. There I detected another problem. While going down hill I can only muster 20 miles per hour…15 miles short of the normal drop down speed. The winds blowing from the west are buffeting my decent.
I can only hope and pray that the “prevailing” remains so. A tail wind home would be nice!
Getting on a roll...
After reaching the floor, and turning right to pedal north on Akron Peninsula Road, I begin to spin to a good pace. The temps are climbing…it feels like a SUMMER DAY! Yeah!!!
I am working up a good sweat. And, I know in the back of my mind that I have already missed the official start of the “drive in” lunch gathering of the ROMEOs who risked their lives to be out in this cruddy weather. (Say WHAT?). So I kick it into “book it mode”.
That’s when it happened again. I heard the voice say…you need to do something here!
But, I protest, “I have to meet up the guys and give them a piece of my mind about the ride cancellation. Or, at least get a good explanation from the good doctor!”
The voice responds, “You’ll be sorry!”
“Rats”, I think. The voice is always right. Defiantly, I risk it, and pedal on.
The CHASE!
I only encountered a few riders biking south as I pedal north on Akron Peninsula Rd. I give them a “wave” or a quick ring on my “compass bell”…my “solo” habit of greeting riders on a gorgeous riding day.
As I approach our “regular ROMEO right turn” out of the valley intersection – Truxell, I spot a “red shirted” rider a good distance in front of me. I think he may have already been on the rise of the road as it begins to turn NNE after the Par Three Executive golf course parking area on the west side of the AP road.
Little does he know, but red shirted rider INSTANTLY became a rabbit (Easter Rabbits are not red…you silly rabbit). Not just any rabbit, but a RACE RABBIT!
Like a tall lanky greyhound, I am in pursuit!
Just think, a year ago…as a newbie rider… I thought Lance Armstrong was one of the first astronauts to walk on the moon! Naive, I know. I now realize that with dope (or is that being a dope) all things are possible. Why even Dr. Tom is trying to ride to the moon!
Blood flowing red, eyes tracing red like laser beams, old “684” Aluminum Red Schwinn is screaming its gain on the Red Rabbit! I keenly see the bulls-eye the “Red Target” symbol on his back.
I sense he knows I am in pursuit. He just does not know how truly COW crazy I am!
As the road begins to dip to the advance to the down town intersection, I compute in my mind that if I go all out I can “buzz him off” at the traffic light…if it only stays green.
The light’s switch to yellow reminds me to Ride Safe! We both reach the front of the stop line as the traffic light turns red…and cooler heads prevail since neither of us was crazy enough to run the red light…and expose our selves to a deadly “RED CROSS”.
I roll up on the Red Rabbit’s right side. I “smile” as best as a can…trying to hide my gasping labor for oxygen. We exchange pleasantries. Nice day. Yes. Isn’t it a great day for bike riding! We share more smiles.
Confession: I feel like the wolf talking to “little red riding hood”!
Evidently his RR’s mom never told him to not to talk with perfect strangers. As the light turns green, we pedal calmly together after making a left on to Rt 303 to head west into the center of Peninsula .
He looks strangely into my eyes as I begin to focus my thoughts on lunch. I sense his panic. He proclaims, “I need to get going”. And, then gives me some “mombo jumbo” about going to see his grandmother.
I try to calm him and say, “Before you go little red riding hood, I mean rabbit, that is…what is your name anyway? (man…I am blowing it with this dish). Would you mind if I take a picture from my COW blog?”
Now he knows I am crazy as a mad COW! But, he agrees to a picture never-the-less.
Cha-ching…another “notch” on my mission for “positive trail connections”.
Please meet (load applause and cheering):
Nathan the “Nate”...the Red Rabbit
Bet he never saw this coming.
But, I hope he comes back once in a while…
To check in on the latest COW droppings!
There is the next target on the south side of the road. I think to myself, “Gee, I wonder why Dr. Tom picked this place as a back up lunch ride cancellation stop?”
Evidently, he is not yielding the advice that his BBA counselors are giving him (clueless as to what BBA is? You better back track and read one of my favorite early post, O Romeo, Romeo! Perché sei tu Romeo?
I check in with the Fisher’s waiting staff and ask, “Where are the ornery old men at?”
He responds, “Oh those guys!!! We were slow at getting ready to open today…so after a 30 minutes wait, they bailed and went across the street to the Winking Lizard.”
He then gave me this warning, “I would suggestion using extreme caution around those guys, they seem really angry about not being able to get Blueberry BBQ sauce on their pancakes!”
I appreciated his warning, for I know first hand how ROMEOs can turn into sour pusses when they are denied access to eating establishments. Check out “Dollar Bill Steve’s” pout below, and I think you will agree!
 |
| Ah Steve...is the resturant really closed? |
I walked my bike across the street to the Winking Lizard, but only saw one bike leading against the side of building. Where are the rest of the pikers rides? I then proceeded through:
It did not take long to locate the gang…I just let my ears lead me to the loud raucous coming from the back room...where else would you stick a rowdy bunch of ROMEOs?
 |
| Left Side: Front to Back: Dan, Neil (hiding), Tom, Mike, Jeff, Walt Right Side: Front to Back: Steve, Bob, Stan, Bill |
After the group shot, I quickly remembered my rage of the day: How could the lunch ride have been cancelled on this beautiful day? I had only one mission…to get the good Dr. Tom to explain his way on of this “Doppler Doo Doo!”
I asked him THE QUESTION, “Can you please explain how this happened?” Here is his video response!
Looking North South East...and he sees rain everywhere!
Dr.Tom predicts, again, rainfall by 2:00 pm 4/26/2011
Since I had to be back in time to make my cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die commitment to my son Andy, I did not dally too long. Before I left though, I was introduced to six past Presidents of the Akron Bike Club. No wonder this group insists on “formal” pomp & circumstances.
As required, here was my departure farewell, “So long most gracious and kind biking gentlemen. Have a marvelous afternoon.”
Smiling to myself, that I got Dr. Tom’s weak explanation, I head back out under blue skies and sunshine!
I decide to return home via Akron-Peninsula Road, so I turn left and “wink” good bye to the “WL”, and then proceeded south by taking a right on AP Road.
That’s when I felt the gusts of a head wind and heard the voice, “Pull over and check your mileage” Here is what the $13 bike computer showed: 12.6 miles (from home) and with an average speed of 16.6 (that’s my century goal pace for 2011...just need to make it last five times longer).
The voice then said, “Look up”. I responded, “Got it!”
 |
| I listened this time...but I ignored at the start of my ride... What may the next Part of this ride post reveal? |
Spring has arrived…underneath the thrust of April’s winds, rains, and cancelled bike rides.
Part II and Part III to be continued!
Let's see if we can confirm Dr. Tom's second rain prediction!
Remember: Ride Safe!
...
The embedded video is a nice touch. It doesn't sound like you got a chance to eat that day, just badger and run ;)
ReplyDelete