With apologies and royalties to Simon and Garfunkel, a happy twist to a beautiful but dark song. We’ve had enough darkness these past few rainy Monday.

Hello sunshine, my old friend
I’ve come to ride with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
We want to Draft on Monday

In restless dreams, I rode alone
Lodi road of cobblestone
‘Overeth the pot hole of a street damp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That bright tail light
And broke the string of bad luck

And in the Varia blinking light, I saw
Ten thousand Drafters, maybe more
People riding without speaking
People riding without listening
People riding bikes with chamois never shared
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of drafting

20.9 Drafters came out to play in the sunshine. Thing 1.9 came on foot, since drafting responsibly while 39 weeks pregnant is best done on two feet rather than two wheels. We are excited for the arrival of our newest Drafter! She and Vintage made a delicious pan of brownies that went to waist.

With Slim late to the party, and still recovering from Unbound XL, the A Team had to find a new leader. Vintage came in hot, proclaiming, “I blew. It went everywhere (referring to his tire sealant, of course)” Some men are just born to lead.

He led us right up to the B Team. It was wonderful to have the whole gang together for awhile.

Black Hill is a bugger of a climb. (Side note: Pit Stop is on record admitting that she enjoys climbing more than riding in a head wind. Future rides will take that into consideration). As the Drafters regrouped at the summit in a driveway, two men came running from the house clapping their hands and hollering. Stunned, we stood their in our spandex, trying to make out what names we were being called. A disgruntled man in a pick up truck had given us a few new nicknames earlier in the ride, and so we were primed for another verbal assault. Not the case. Turns out the men were calling their dogs, who they assumed were chasing us. Imagine their surprise when the dogs came running out of the house to chase their owners! Who let the dogs out? (Who, who, who, who, who?)
Who let the dogs out? (Who, who, who, who, who?)
Who let the dogs out? (Who, who, who, who, who?)
Who let the dogs out?

Angry man yelling. Nice men yelling. Hard to know, sometimes.

The descent on Black Hill aided by a tailwind gave a boost to our average speed. For some it made sense to punch it, for others it seemed like a “sprint in middle of nowhere”. Perspective is a funny thing.

There have been very few, if any, official sprints during the Draft . None that have been recorded for posterity (Strava segments don’t count). That all changed on Monday night when BrickO challenged the strong trio of Vintage, Twinkle Toes and Keez to a town sign sprint.

Knievel entertained joining the fun until he consulted his fuel gauge, “I had 25 miles in my legs for a 31 mile ride.”

Keez made the first move. Vintage took the bait. But in the end, it was Twinkle Toes who wheeled in big fish. Those quads aren’t just for show. They have some serious go.

In addition to the Town Sign Sprint, which may become a weekly occurrence, there were a few other “firsts”. Midas led Drafter Yoga. Rimshot’s reaction: “I’ve never seen that before!” He put down his beer, Vintage finished off his delicious brownie and they joined Midas. Namaste.

The Drafters pride themselves on spanning 6 decades. Which means an in inadvertent butt dial could set off a Silver Alert. Pit Stop’s expression says it all.

Fortunately, Pit Stop was able to verify her location and state of mind. Perhaps not the case for our long lost Slow Cow, who sent this photo, update and request for Drafter handle change to “Tour Slug”:

“I though Dane County roads were getting a little crazy. Here you have Forest Road meth heads, logging trucks, bears, and mountain lions.  A local ride leader (kind of your equivalent) asked me if I wanted to see the local mountain lions dens (notice plural) on a local route.  Nope I’’ll pass. He is a retired airfare para rescue dude with one lung (he left the other someplace in Afghanistan). He is insane. Reminds me of you – just a little more soft!”

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS

Congrats to Belle, Bomber and Momma Monster on competing in the Epic Bike Fest in Hayward over the weekend. Green is easy to find in a crowd and looks good on the podium, Momma Monster!

Turns out black is pretty easy to spot as well… an epic photo by Belle as she drafted responsibly.

There aren’t any great photos from our Trek 100 participants, Nemo and Shaq, as they rode in a deluge. Congrats on persevering!

Feel like you’re missing out on events? The Horribly Hilly Hundreds is this weekend and there is an extra ticket available. Reach out if you feel the need to suffer on Saturday. Not sure if this is your year for HHH? Volunteer this Thur at Erik’s Bike Shop from 2:30-7PM at packet pick up and get a FREE ENTRY for 2025!!! Text BrickO for details. We could use more Drafters to help out.

DIRTY DRAFT UPDATE: seems only fitting that the first dirty draft got rained out after 30 minutes. Watson barely escaped a falling tree on Slice. Phew. Note: future drafts and dirty drafts will not test Mother Nature. Better safe than crushed. Keep an eye out on the Dirty Draft Group Me for changes (no organized ride next week). Perhaps a Tuesday night will draw more folks? There are other groups riding Tue/Thur on the road and on the dirt, which was the reason for Wed. It might take a few weeks/months/years to get it rolling. Maybe I’ll turn it over to these two Dirty Drafters!

SWIP RIGHT if you are looking for a 51cm carbon R3 Cervelo with Ultegra Di2. Likes pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.

Let’s call a spade a spade. The ride for next week is called HILLSIDE. Departure times at 4:45 and 5PM from Middleton Hills. There is a 31 mile full strength and 25 mile short pour.

RidewithGPS link Drafters | Hillside

RidewithGPS link Drafters | Hillside Short Pour

Draft responsibly,

BrickO