On Buttertart, Fig'sTdBronte, and Homage2Ice

So...Tour de Buttertart...a 100km road ride in my local 'neck of the woods' where we hit several (3) bakeries to sample their buttertarts...and end at Cafe Domestique for recovery.  Sounds like fun, eh?  And really it is...even if it is touted as a no-drop fun ride...much to the chagrin of those on their first ride of the season (Hint:  don't make a 100km ride of any pace your first ride of the season); the speed gradually (or not so gradually) ramps up as we approach the next bakery on the route.  Especially when you get competitive guys like Adrian and Blaine up front, or dirty players like CptSydor (who attacks from behind when you are at the top of your pull into the wind, or attacks when you pull out of the pace line to blow your nose...dirty, dirty, dirty), or guys like Unglued (sorry I can't say anything about Unglued....he is a lawyer...ooops...was that too much??).

What is this???  I don't know....lawyers and bad reincarnation kind of go hand in hand....don't they??  Plus I had to get a cat pic in...I didn't think this qualified...

Anyways, even more than those that made this their first ride of the season, I was impressed with Vern, who rode a rigid, single speed, Mountain bike (fat tires and all); with Oggie who set the pace up front the entire ride on a cross bike with the rest of us on 12oz (yes oz....ok maybe not oz) carbon, skinny tired road bikes; with all the female riders kicking my arse at half my weight (yeah, who am I kidding...virtually everyone out there was half my weight).

This is a pic of the group at one of the stops...

Anyways...a great ride was had, buttertarts were eaten, recovery beverages were consumed, and as my small town paper gossip section used to say; "a good time was had by all".

We were all lickin our lips!!

Yeah...stretchin it with this one...

Fig missed the Tour de Buttertart.  He was racing in the Tour de Bronte that weekend (Fig now races for the Rock & Road Cycle team).  The Tour de Bronte has a Dirt Dash (a mountain bike race on gravel roads) on the Saturday, and a road race on the Sunday.  Fig came in second in the Dirt Dash in his category (out of 5 entered...3 DNF'd...shhhhh); and he came in 5th in the road race on Sunday.  Fig won money, so he was happy...guess he's going pro now...

Actually, Fig's training over the winter has taken a hit for medical reasons...so he is not quite in the shape he would like to be in right now...but he says he's workin on it.  Hope so...he is my tag team partner for the 8hr races, and the 24 hr race coming up...

Maybe Fig should recover like these guys...

Or not...

Finally, I am gearing up for the Homage to Ice.  This is the first of Dan of Substance's (Substance Projects) XC MTB Marthon Race Series.  Around 65km of racing up in Mansfield this weekend.  I hope conditions are good, but they have had a ton of snow up in that area this winter...so it could be challenging.  Oh well....should make for good stories...or at least for a good blog post next week!

So...stay posted!!