Rose Pedal

The Rose Pedal is a benefit ride for Cystic Fibrosis. Me, Travis and Russell rode one of the routes a while back and it was great. Russell suggested we do the ride this weekend and I was all over it. There were all kinds of options from 7 miles to 100 miles. We went for 62.

Registration was at 7AM. I got there bright and early.



Russell showed up a few minutes later.



The last time we rode on the road, Russell had a bike from '96, but today it was a brand new ride.

Aaaaa! (angelic choir)



There were riders of all kinds in the lot, but nobody I recognized. I didn't even recognize any kits. It reminded me of a photo a buddy of mine showed me once of a candy aisle in a gas station in South Africa. I recognized everything as candy, but all the brands were foreign. So familiar, but at the same time, so foreign.



The 100 milers went first, we rolled out five minutes later. The weather was cool and delicious. Sunshine was pouring in from the right side like liquid. The roll out was lazy and I really got a chance to enjoy the scenery.



It seemed like there were 50 or so riders trailing out behind us. It was Russell's first group ride. I gave him some pointers, I'd let him know if we needed to bridge, if we could sit up, and so forth but he figured out the group dynamics really quick and didn't appear to be having any trouble with the pace.

We blew through SAG 1 but stopped at SAG 2.



I wondered if it maybe it would just end up being a casual ride, but no, we're in Georgia, and in Georgia, all road rides become races.

After some initial confusion, some guys from Clinica Union moved up, set the pace and controlled the group for most of the time. They were all speaking spanish and I'm pretty sure I heard "puta loco" a lot. It was funny, I even fell into shouting "Perro!" instead of "Dog!" when we'd see a dog.

Later on, me and Russell put in real work for about 10 miles. A triathelete from Florida broke near the end, but we reeled him in. At the very end, me, one of the Clinica guys and the tri-guy duked it out. The Clinica guy and I worked together, but he gapped me on a little hill. The tri guy would have caught me too but he got stuck at a light.

Turns out the guy from Clinica's name was George. Really cool guy.



Next year I'll have to do the 100. I'll probably hit a few more of these kinds of rides this year too. The Weekly Beatdown is fun, but it's nice to ride a different course with different people.