Labor Day Weekend by bike

Mile 42

"So, is there a sprint for glory?" I ask innocently.

The rider next to me looks surprised. She's just complained about the testosterone levels on the ride, and now she realizes she's riding ten wheels back next to a newbie to the ride.

"What?"

"Is there a big sprint for glory at the end of the ride" I repeat. My legs are spinning out my 53x11 gear and I know that the end of the ride is somewhere ahead in the next 10-15 minutes.

"Oh, yeah. Is this your first time on the Doc?" I nod yes. "The road's going to take a sharp left and then a hard right and that's the sprint."

"Thanks."

Mile 8

Several orange cones are spaced out in the road. Our peloton ponders them as we cruise around them at 25mph. We're a large, disorganized organism moving around on the road in no certain way. We ooze from shoulder to just past the center line. We're an amoeba absorbing individuals making their way off the front and then falling back. Two individuals roll past the cones first and, as they round the turn out of sight from the main body, stumble upon a very angry sounding county sheriff. His car has lights flashing.

As we round the turn, the organism perceives the ticket book in the sheriff's hand and immediately reverses direction. We're suddenly very organized.

"Oh my god, what are we going to do now?" A woman is mocking the group. She's a very good rider and will manage to stay near the pointy end of the group for the entire 45 mile ride. Clearly this enables her sarcasm.

"Do you folks always do the same route?"

"You're new to the ride?" I nod.

"Every week it's Ground Hog Day." She's referring to the movie. Bill Murray wakes up every morning to repeat the same day, Ground Hog Day, over and over until he gets his life right. I laugh; I'm a newbie to this ride.

Mile -.5

There's a sign at St Bruno's church on the corner of Main St. in Dousman. I see it as I pass. "What kind of bike would Jesus ride?" This might sound like a strange question at first. If it wasn't the big 105th birthday of Harley Davidson motorcyles and 160,000 have descended on Milwaukee. Of course, I know the answer and it's not Harley Davidson.

I see another rider in a Beans and Barley outfit rolling towards me. "Morning!" We chat and he tells me about his first season racing as a category 5. He's excited and it's contagious. A fellow in a System U jacket rolls up behind us. "Bonjour, Monsieur Fignon!"

"Chris! How are you! Whatcha doing here?"

I raced against Tyson my first two seasons back in the peloton back in 2002 and then didn't see him again until this year during Super Week. Like many, Tyson dropped out of racing as he started his family, got fat and then, unlike many, decided to come back. It's good to have him back.

Mile 0

This is similar to the Bullion ride in the Chevreuse. Ten or fifteen different jerseys and more than fifty riders are outside the Bicycle Doctor's bike shop in tiny Dousman, Wisconsin. We're in the heart of the Kettle Moraine and I'm looking forward to a nice, hard ride. I know this is guaranteed when, in addition to some of the top masters riders from the area, I see none other than Matt Brandt in his USA Cycling team kit. This will be fun.

Mile 15

I scrap my strategy of hanging in the group; it's dangerous back here. No one is following a wheel and I nearly bite the dirt when the fellow in front of me slams his brakes on for... I don't know what. I move to the front where several of my wiser teammates are rotating.

Mile 44

We hit the penultimate turn and I casually move into the first group of wheels, the fellows that are looking to polish off the ride with a nice sprint. My legs are good today, I'm breathing easy and I notice I have no more gears left.

Mile 27

There's a hard acceleration and I move with it off the front. I don't know these riders very well, but the guy in the USA cycling kit is a nice wheel to follow. Amazing how fast he decelerates when he comes off the front, like he's being dropped, and then suddenly is moving up again in the rotation. There's five of us and we're working hard, but not too hard. We hit a hill and there's a bit of an effort. We're caught and then there's a counter.

Last 200 meters

Just like France, I don't know where the finish is. I'm sprinting, and about fifth wheel, but there doesn't seem to be any point and suddenly people are sitting up; the ride is done. Our average is right on 25mph and I feel pretty good. All four Wheaton riders are up in the front and I've completed my first Drop the Doc ride.