The Doug Ryder Reports

Chapter 13: In Which We Went Up The Hill Above Fox And Ended Up Right Back Where We Started (After Having Gained and Lost Considerable Altitude As Well As Getting Pretty Muddy Along The Way Even As We Had Fun)

There were twelve of us on this ride. We met up at the road across the Elliot and just up the hill from the intersection with Old Murphy Dome Road. We started a little after 7:30 and got a fine pace going. Tom Clark and several others passed me going up that first granny-gear hill. We got to the top and hung out while waiting for the rest to get up to the top. Tom, myself, and the two young guys who seem to show up for all of these rides took in the view from the knob up there. Tom found blueberries in abundance.

Then we took off down the bomber hill. Yates caught up with me toward the bottom and joked that he was going faster coasting than I was peddling. I took off and left him behind. Then we started the climb up the last hill. That took a little and once we got to the top, we regrouped and began the descent. The downhill is rutted, rocky, and the trees and bushes have started to grow back over it. Not for the faint of heart. Descending that hill is like playing grandmaster level chess with Gary Kasparov, only if you lose, a couple of goons standing next to the table get to beat the crap out of you. Fortunately, no one wiped out coming down.

So we got down to the bottom and regathered at the Pedro Monument. Burnside gave a refresher course in pace lines and how to maintain them. While he was doing so, I decided that I didn’t want to wait around anymore and took off down the hill. The rest of the group formed up and caught up with me about halfway back to Fox. They passed me a little ways after the NOAA road. I tried to keep up with Tom (he was bringing up the rear, followed by John Creed) but was too tired to maintain his pace for long.

I caught up with the group just after the Elliott intersection. From there it was a grinding climb up to the cars. I passed Tom and Rich Stolzberg, then caught up with Yates and Burnside. After a little bit, I passed them and got up toward the front of the group (I wanted to try and catch up with Dave James) just as we started the last hill. I never caught Dave. Yates managed to pace me going up that last quarter-mile or so. We got back to the cars a little after 10pm and Tom rode in with Yates’ friend John Creed a little before 10:30. John’s comment at the end was something to the effect of "You guys are crazy!" but he sure seemed to be enjoying himself so I took it in stride.

Total time: 1.5 hours. Total distance: about fifteen miles. Worst hill: the first one at the start. Best descent: coming down behind Pedro Monument.

That’s my report for this week. See ya next week!

Liam Wescott

a/k/a The Doug Ryder

FCC Historian