Drafter Update: Rules of Engagement for the Riley Tavern Route
Our Drafter Family has Drafted Responsibly since 2013. We will continue to do so.
Our good friends at SweatVac have donated shapeshifters to physicians on the front lines, and will offer a dramatic discount to cyclists seeking to Draft Responsibly: Link to SweatVac
In an effort to ensure that we Draft responsibly, I tinkered around with the idea of providing these masks for the Monday Draft to Riley Tavern. This gives a new meaning to "going green". I entertained a non-Drafting time trial format, releasing a rider every 3 minutes to maintain a safe distance (exemption for couples already sharing snot). Even if the risk of contamination was eliminated with these measures, we run the risk of being perceived by the community as drafting irresponsibly.While stewing and brewing over this conundrum, I was epiphanized (I guess you could say I had an epiphany, but this word is so much cooler, although possibly not real). The Drafter bond is less about the miles ridden side by side, and more about the stories of those miles (mostly me poking fun at our ineptitudes). My epiphany for a solution came from watching mini-Pipes conquer her first hairpin turn on concrete. I wasn't on the sidewalk at the time, but know it well. Pipes shared the story and that gave me a sense of community, even without drafting behind mini-Pipes.[wpvideo ewtGs34f] With that, here are the rules of engagement for the Riley Tavern Route:
- We will Draft responsibly, not convening as we normally do at 5:30.
- Ride on your own; it must include a portion of the Riley Tavern route in order to be recorded for all prosperity on the offical spreadsheet , henceforth qualifying for a prize (TBD including but not limited to Photo Competition and MVP).
- You must send a selfie with Drafter swag and evidence of the Riley Tavern, date stamped Monday March 30. You do not have to be in Drafter attire, although strongly encouraged to earn photo competition points.
- In case of rain, you can ride indoors and send a selfie with Drafter swag. No need to have a smart trainer with copious amounts of power data. Old school Johnny G Spin Bikes work beautfiully. Please consider joining the Tobacco City Peloton (current Edgertonian members: 2).
Side bar: our Hincapie Drafter gear should be shipped April 21. Keep an eye on your email for shipping confirmation from FedEx as you will need to sign for your package.Octane has been practicing selfies with his Drafter water bottle. Water bottles, towels, socks, hats, shapeshifters and certainly Drafter kits qualify as swag.
"See" you Monday at Riley Tavern.Draft repsonbily,BrickO
You Gotta Keep 'Em Separated
Given the circumstances of social isolation and a gloomy March Monday, we made the best of the situation. One bright spot was the addition of Drafter Newbie, LuLu. I was worried about his abilities from the start, as he and Vintage nearly collided making the turn from Elmwood Ave over the curb (because we forgot there was a driveway?) into the parking lot. There are many reasons why this would have been bad: 1) failure to follow the no injury policy, 2) Cronometro's Italian Job wasn't present to do curbside bike repairs, 3) skin to skin contact is forbidden under the current viral attack. Luckily, the boys got their signals straight and reluctantly crouched at the starting line, muscles pumping and thumping in time, they're going the Distance, they're going for speed.The only thing I learned about our Newbie was his occupation, some sort of cyclotron jockey. In my mind, this translated into a tech geek working on peloton development. Cyclotron. Peloton. You can see the connection? So, when he casually asked about my career, I utilized lots of air to drone on about the myriad of initials that have found their way to the end of my name. I was feeling pretty darn good about myself and my tuition dollar to initial ratio, unitl I got home and googled him. Yeah, so I should have used more big words and less air during our conversation. Turns out this dude is a cyclotron jockey... the medical frickin' physics kind with "experience in radionuclide production, accelerator targetry and radiochemistry, as an analytical and preparative radiochemist in clinical and pre-clinical positron emission tomography (PET) scanning environments, in the construction of automated radiochemistry modules for routine and novel syntheses, and bringing PET radiotracer production facilities from bare slab to routine production and research activities." Uh, yeah, so about my initials. Nevermind.Half way through the ride, his Drafter handle was decidedly "Einstein" as he clearly knows enough about physics and gravity not to get dropped. But then I noticed the Lululemon emblem on his cycling pants and his handle changed. No matter that my half century +1 old eyes mistook Novara for Lulu. I can't keep 'em separated. LuLu had taken root.
Our "leave no Drafter behind" motto was mostly adhered to. Booker J showed up on a single speed. Although the 107 mile Dairy Roubaix has been cancelled, he is determined to continue his rigorous training regimen. With a perspiration rate like his, the motto had to be modified: "Leave no Drafter more than 10miles behind ".Hit-the-Wall, living up to his name, went out hard and turned around at the bike path. He sent a curious notification to the blog:
His follow up text, "I just couldn't keep up, so the bike path looked inviting. No beer at the end really kills the motivation, too." Couldn't agree more, Hit-the-Wall.In this trying time, I thought a few motivational videos from Drafter off-spring might brighten your spirits. Coach Arms has almost gone the 9mo distance with Baby #2, and almost went the distance with another UW Badger Women's Hockey title. With the uninvited time off from the rink, she is focusing her coaching energies on muffin making.[wpvideo NSoQlkcd]Pipes uses teaching points from her bike-deer collision and subequent bonk tip-over scaphoid fracture to coach her off-spring's first spring ride. [wpvideo yqjF3TNv]As of now, the forecast for next Monday is sunny and 58. Lots can change, including social isolation protocol. I can't predict if we will be riding apart together or not at all. But, here's to hoping for a Riley Tavern Draft next week.
Garmin link: Riley Tavern 22milesDraft resonsibly,BrickO