It’s hard to land on one most favorite musician. But if my hand was forced, I would go with Bob Seger. Growing up on a small family farm in southern Wisconsin, I have fond memories of my Mom blasting Seger through the Advent speakers such that we could hear him singing throughout the house and well into the tobacco fields. I thought of Bob Seger Monday night.

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Seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
Weather was lovely, she was queen Monday night
There in Dane County with the spring peepers playing low

And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she led me, oh so tight
Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then

Against the wind
We were ridin’ against the wind
We were youngish and strong, we were ridin’
Against the wind

And the miles rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded by Drafters I thought were my friends
Found myself further and further from my home and I

Guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was living to ride and riding to live
Never worried about paying, or even how much I owed

Moving eight miles an hour for most of the time
Breaking all of the rules that would bend
I began to find myself searching
Searching for shelter again and again

Against the wind
Little something against the wind
I found myself seeking shelter
Against the wind

Well those Drafter’s days are past me now
I’ve got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out

Against the wind
I’m still ridin’ against the wind
I’m older now but still ridin’
Against the wind

19 Drafters, including one Newbie, Badger, ventured out against cross and head winds. Where was the tail wind, you wonder? We wondered the same. Duracell and Queenie left at 4PM, transmitting warnings back to HQ about the conditions, which were largely ignored. After all, how reliable is intel from a source without a clean Drafter kit ready for Monday night?

Tough enough to ride against the wind, but not with two toddlers in tow, Coach Arms opted for wind resistance from her trainer.

Speedy and Footer, collectively meeting the weight requirement to ridin’ against the wind, departed shortly after. The FOG (fast old guys) FOG (feeling overly generous), offered to catch the 2 XX and pull them home. This only fueled the duos fire. Speedy struggled a bit to make the turns, but saw the positive side. “That was a lot of time under tension.” I’m no mathematician, but there is likely an equation to describe this phenomenon. Our resident medical physicist, LuLu, observed that anyone under 160 pounds needed to lean at approximately a 45-degree angle to keep ridin’ against the wind. At that weight to lean ratio, Speedy was parallel with the ground. LuLu was throwing around the p=mv equation, which I looked up. Basically, in no uncertain terms, it means that Gopher’s brownies from last week kept me upright and should be consumed at a higher velocity.

Cookie Monster and E$ have another strong XX Drafter ridin’ against the wind:

Columbus and Newbie, Badger, could be the smartest of the XX Drafters. They constructed a 9 mile route consisting entirely of a tail wind. Pretty sure they stole ours. Columbus humbly declared, “WE CRUSHED IT.”

The B Team showed incredible Drafter spirit, taking turns drafting behind Vintage. Facetiously, LuLu scoffed, “Feels like we are going 5 mph”. Looking at my Garmin, we were cranking out 5.1mph. Skipper thought his Garmin actually read 0mph on the stretch home, ridin’ against the wind. The wind was ripping through the valleys such that the telephone wires were howling. It sounded like F16s flying overhead.

The A Team suffered under the same wind conditions, but apparently found a segment of tail wind on Church Rd. Rimshot topped out at 47mph. I guess if the spirit moves you, it really moves you. Not paying heed to the sand and pothole riddled conditions of Whippoorwill Road, FOG was focused on capturing a Strava segment. “I finally slowed down when I went off the road” rejoiced Rimshot. The spirit wasn’t so generous with Blurple, who joined the FLAT TIRE CLUB. Booker J was singing another Bob Seger hit song, “Horizontal Bop”. Cross-winds are fierce when a snot rocket lands in the next county.

The Drafter ride for April 5 will Take Me To Church. B team departs 4:30, A team at 5PM. Back by popular demand, Pizza from Glass Nickel will be provided. If there is enough interest, we can discuss ordering logistics, but next week, it is on the house. The Brick House.

GPS link: Take Me To Church GPS

HINCAPIE STORE UPDATE: Polar vest and polar long sleeve jerseys have been added to the store, open through April 5.

Hincapie Drafter Store Link 2021

An additional HINCAPIE STORE LINK for older kits will be available soon, likely later this week or next.

DIRTY DRAFT UPDATE: we are predicting many new dirty members to the Wednesday night rides. CamRock are Quarry Ridge are open, with Blackhawk and Pleasant View drying out quickly thanks to sun and wind. Look for updates on GroupMe. Captain Joe and Ninja provided some new MTB porn, and rumor has it that Dark Knight and Duracell have new MTBs waiting to get dirty. Give some serious thought to joining Capital Off-Road Pathfinders, or support them by ordering a MTB jersey (10% back to CORP).

CORP jersey link

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Draft responsibly,

BrickO

2021 Drafter gear is here!

You have until Sunday April 5 at midnight to place your order.

Here is the link for the 2021 BrickO’s Drafters custom store: https://order.hincapiecustom.com/2021BRICKOS

As a reminder, VELOCITY is the race cut. AXIS is the more relaxed club fit. There are two inseam lengths to choose from for shorts and bibs. Historically, the longer inseam length is more popular, but you do you. There are NO RETURNS. Many of you took advantage of the demo sample sizes we had last week. If you didn’t have that opportunity, try on a fellow Drafter’s kit from 2019-2020 to guide you, as they are the same style.

Love your old kit? The Hincapie Store is willing to bring them back! You need to email me with specific details on the 1) kit style and 2) item, including male/female and size

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Thank you for supporting the Draft!

Draft responsibly,

BrickO

14 Drafters showed lots of brawn, perhaps more than brains, drafting on the first official day of spring. A few sprinkles had us wondering if Captain Joe was the only one to stay dry, as he dutifully rode the course in the early afternoon to provide a full report on road conditions. The black box data indicated we were clear for take off.

The B team took a strong lead out Airport Rd, minus one. BrickO suffered a wardrobe malfunction, unable to engage her cleat due to a feisty toe cover. After several failed attempts to remove said toe cover in transit, she was grateful for a red light to remedy the situation.

Abiding by the Drafter Code of Ethics, BrickO did the shamrock shuffle at Culvers to rendezvous with Vilks, who underestimated the extra riding time from Fitchburg to the start.

There has been some recent debate on a proper description for the A Team. Cannibal offered up “FOG” to represent the Fat Old Guys, but the B Team took offense (since they can’t keep up) and re-acronymized them as the Fast Old Guys. Clearly, the debate isn’t about age. The newest inducted, Busch Latte, may be the most decrepit of the A Team. At the ripe old age of 28, he bailed on his teammates claiming his “legs were trashed from the weekend.” Way wah wah. FOG= full of garbage.

The A team also had a member with mechanical. Booker J is the first to join the 2021 FLAT TIRE CLUB! Well done, Booker J. Adding a bit more brawn to Braun, he dropped his chain at the start of the climb. Cannibal and Blurple were already hammering for the Strava segment, so Rimshot made the Drafter sacrifice, slowly spinning up Braun to keep Booker J in sight.

Post-ride marriage counseling was in session on the back porch. LuLu & Columbus were talking excitedly about their upcoming vacation with Gopher & Badger. The topic of how many bikes to bring was broached and debated by all Drafters not going on their vacation, which further led to a debate on how many bikes one “should own”. Gopher recently splurged on a gravel bike, but then responsibly passed on a new road bike, instead buying a new set of road wheels that could also function on his gravel bike. “I like being married”, . Vintage stood firm on his viewpoint that “I can buy anything without asking permission from Thing 1“. Struck with a the realization of the recent charge on their credit card, which prompted a fraud alert, Thing 1 said, “You are such an A$$”. Turns out wheel sets, even on sale, do not go undetected. The Discover card lives up to its name.

Minutes from the marriage counseling session: We all agreed that Gopher should stay married. And, should continue to bake toffee chocolate brownies to share with the Drafters. It is good therapy. Unanimously we agreed that n+1 is the optimal number of bikes. And that Discover should not discover any bike or bike part purchases and report them to the non-purchasing spouse. Fraud alerts should be directed to the spouse making the bike purchase.

The Hincapie sizing samples arrived. Proving the ride was no brains and all brawn, we donned our shorts and jerseys after Gopher’s brownies. Everybody was rethinking the dessert and beverage choices as we picked up the size we were last season. Dedicated to an upcoming race, Skipper had already completed a morning run, 30 min core workout, and observed intermittent fasting…. and he imbibed in a post-ride draft from the faucet! Vintage went straight for the XXS… for his left big toe.

Please reach out if you want to try on samples before ordering (bibs, shorts, short, long sleeve and polar jerseys, wind jacket, wind and polar vests, polar jacket). There are no returns. However, if something doesn’t fit, let me know and I can usually find a Drafter with a wish list. I will send the samples back on Friday and open up the Hincapie Team Store. You will have one week to place your orders. Transactions and delivery are all handled individually. Throughout the year, you can receive 20% off all non-custom orders through https://hincapie.com/ with code SBRICKSON.

A shout out to Coach Arms and the Women’s Badger Hockey Team. We fully expect Coach Arms to be back in the Draft, now that she is off the ice.

On tap for next week, March 29th is Tom Collins. Departure times for B and FOG teams are 4:30 and 5:00PM, respectively. Any changes will be noted on GroupMe.

Download map and cue sheet PDF:

GPS Link: Tom Collins

Draft responsibly,

BrickO

Spring sprung early and wasn’t the only green life to be appreciated on Monday. 11 Drafters found their way to the Riley Tavern on a gorgeous 60-degree day, the earliest in Drafter history for an inaugural ride.

The B Team departed at 4PM, with some interesting looking bicycles. Vintage brought a beast of the same name while Speedy wheeled up on her Grandmother’s “grocery bike”, having dismantled the basket earlier in the day. The warm weather caught us all off guard. Speedy, being of shorter stature, simply couldn’t reach her LaMond hanging in the garage since November. Resourceful, although I do hope Grandma wasn’t looking to go shopping Monday evening.

The A Team rode with a bit more vigor, discussing Strava segments and pace line strategies. It seems Cannibal gained more power and lost more mass over the winter (highly irritating for those of us who thought the pandemic could be mitigated with Netflix, pizza and Imperial Stouts), leading the small A team paceline without regard for rotation. Blurple commented, “Ya know. We could go a lot faster if you went a little slower on occasion.” Rimshot had a strong start to the Drafter season, remembering to bring beer and even offered to pay one forward to the Newbie. Granted, it was a Miller Lite, so none were surprised when the Newbie declined. Turns out, the quality of the beer wasn’t the issue. The guy simply wasn’t thirsty. It came out that Miller Lite is actually a step up from his Busch Latte. Welcome to the Draft.

Back at home base, we enjoyed some caloric reinforcements, compliments of Cookie and her little Monster. The snow in the backyard kept us on the porch, and we tested the safety of our new industrial outdoor patio gas heater under the wooden ceiling. Since staring the lawn on fire last year with an uncooperative and unruly fire pit, we are fully stocked with fire extinguishers for 2021. Blurple suggested we turn the gas heater into a blow torch to melt the remainder of the snow before next Monday’s ride. Looking at the forecast, we might need to order more gas heaters. Or blowtorches.

Super Tuesday seems to be a jammin’ day to ride, if you can’t make it on Monday.

Ignoring the forecast, let’s pretend that 60 degrees is here to stay and that we will Draft on Monday. The route is No Brains, All Brawn (or Braun, as the road is otherwise known). Departures: B Team 4:30; A team 5PM.

Download map and cue sheet: Brains and Brawn

Garmin link

RidewithGPS link

A reminder that we will be ordering Hincapie kits in the next week or two. If you would like to request a sample jersey, shorts, bibs, jacket or vest to try on for size, please let me know as I will be having those mailed soon. And for all other Hincapie Sportswear orders please enjoy 20% off with code SBRICKSON. 

Draft responsibly,

BrickO

Welcome to the 2021 season, the 9th official Draft. Our secretary was hired in 2016, and data has been kept meticulously since that time (she’s worth the expense- pro bono). Here is a snapshot of the trends:

Let’s keep that momentum rolling! A few ground rules to review before we roll:

• Have fun. Spread the love of cycling. The Drafters are a family first, and then a bike group.  We do not have a process to vet newbies, so if you invite someone into our tribe, realize they are a reflection of you and should share our family values. We care little about power to mass ratio, and much about humanity for the masses ratio. 
• Represent the Draft well. Preferably wearing green.  Hincapie kits will be available to order next week.  Enjoy a discount on all non-Drafter Hincapie Sportswear with code SBRICKSON.
• Be safe: you are responsible for your own safety, and realize your behavior impacts the safety of others.  Please follow the rules of the road as well as social distancing until the threat of Covid has been eliminated. And while I am not legally liable for your safety, I do have a moral and ethical obligation to share suds with you after the draft, so text me if you have an issue on the route and let me know you are safe. 
• When in doubt, climb.  And always go left on Johnson.  Maps and GPS will be provided on the blog.  It is your responsibility to download or print and be prepared to navigate. Recommend downloading the WordPress app on your phone for quick reference.  
• Communication amongst Drafters will occur through GroupMe, to include but not limited to weather updates, ride delays and cancellations, road closures and route changes. If you want to be added to GroupMe, please let me know. 
• Leave no Drafter behind or alone.   Help a Drafter in need (flat tire or other mechanical) or suffer the consequences (being shunned on the blog).
• Bring your own beverages, and consider bringing an extra to share with your thirsty fellow Drafter who forgot (won’t name names, Rimshot) , and anything you would like to eat during post-ride festivities.  An industrial space heater has been purchased to complement the heat generated by fire pit… and promises to be a bit safer.  Lawn fires are discouraged and by permit only.

The weather for early March looks promising for an inaugural ride on Monday, March 8. Due to limited daylight (sunset 5:51PM) and social distancing, we will have a TT rolling start at 4:00 from our home base in Middleton Hills. Many of you work until 5PM, and as daylight becomes more generous, we will move the start to a later time.

Ride With GPS link

Garmin link

Download map and cue sheet PDF: Riley Tavern

Draft responsibly,

BrickO