The ride started with a free breakfast at Panera Bread for those of us that showed up early in Evanston Bike Club Jerseys. This was followed by a group photos of all the members of the Evanston Bike Club in attendance for future posting on the Panera website. The offer of a free breakfast and the opportunity to promote the club turned out to be a big draw. There must have been at least 30 participants and it became a nice social gathering.
Today's ride was our last group training session together before the Sub 5 Hour Century next Sunday, so it was a "tapering" ride. We rode from Panera in Wilmette to Panera in Lake Bluff for about a 42 mile ride. The pace was fairly brisk, particularly on the way home coming down the Skokie Valley Bikeway with a 14 mph NNE wind helping us maintain a 25-28 mph pace.
We had a good turnout of the team that will be riding in the Sub 5 Hour Century, including Cons, Felix Gary, Herb, Martin, Rich and me. Also joining in on the ride were Heidi Hoppe, John Chisholm, and Dave Reesh. John and Heidi will also be part of the team, piloting our SAG wagon (actually Herb's truck).
At Panera in Lake Bluff, we had our final discussion on strategy for the event. The most controversial decision was about whether to wait for someone with a flat tire or mechanical problems. After much debate, Heidi firmly suggested that we should consider this to be like a race, and if someone has mechanical problems, it should be up to them to catch up to the group. Her logical suggestion sort of put an end to the debate, and we decided that as long as everyone was aware that we are going to be rather cold blooded about leaving folks behind, no one should have any reason for complaint at the end of the day.
It turned out to be an enjoyable and successful final training session.
GITTY_UP
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