It is quite a thing to have 18 Drafters gather on a gorgeous Monday night in August and wonder, “where is everyone?”. Only 11 years ago, 13 Drafters were a full house. The abundance of quad crushing weekend festivities left many with their feet up. So let’s start with a recap of the weekend highlights, shall we?

Week 3 Tour de Dane Femmes Update

Pit Stop is back in yellow, just a few points ahead of Sandlot, after conquering her second greatest amount of elevation ever on Stage 8 Alp d’Blue. And that was before hiking up the Observation Tower twice, after forgetting her water bottle up at the top. Sandlot and Thing 1 gave it there all on the TT, but Hammer Time is still in the green jersey. The polka dot jersey is still up for grabs! Rumor has it that Cujo is firing up the quads this week.

Ride Across Wisconsin: Congratulations to all of those who did RAW : Knievel, Shaq, Spigot, Hammer and the Colonel. A special shout out to Hammer and Colonel for completing the 240 mile single day option that wasn’t listed as an official option. Sometimes the best things aren’t on the menu!

Race The Lake: Congrats to Blurple, who zipped around Lake Winnebago for his 3rd fastest 100k ever, according to Strava, AI that doesn’t lie.

Steamboat Gravel: somebody got dirty. Congrats, JRAD!

Core4 Gravel in Iowa City: Congrats, Nemo. Hope you heal quickly from your crash. At least you didn’t ruin a Drafter jersey….

The Super Blue Moon happened. Which took second in spectacularness to Bomber and Belle’s wedding. But first, the Pedaling Prelude.

Congratulations to this inspiring couple. The upside to having them move to Spooner is that we will have plenty of opportunities to visit them for the Chequamegon Fat Tire, Birkie Ski and Fat Tire, and all other great north adventures. Book your room now!

So that’s why so “few” showed up for the Draft! Who DID show up was Pres. Must be an election year.

Dan-yelly showed up (but not for the start) and is the first competitor to earn 2 bonus points on Stage 6 of Tour de Dane, sporting a vintage Voler Drafter jersey, circa 2013. A gun show, no less.

Martinsville was a new route. Speedy, armed with her new Garmin Edge Solar 840 led out the B Team…. in the wrong direction. Nothing a little U-turn couldn’t fix.

The A team was ready to roll promptly at 5PM. But dutifully waited as Keez when back home to get her “cleats” (?). She rolled in at 5:04PM, and negotiations began. The group agreed to delay as she aired up her tires so long as she agreed to pull. At least until Slim joined the Draft as his station on Airport Rd.

Keez, Slim and Slimmer set the pace up Church, with the rest of the group praying for redemption.

Skipper thought about jumping on the pony express to catch the group. They were in need of a rider, and Skipper was ready to trade his chamois for breeches.

Octane dropped back to take care of some business. His butt was busy dialing randomly… 15 texts and 21 phone calls.

It is possible that Octane dialed Duracell and the Jets and booked an evening show.

Say, Dan-yelly and Speedy, have you seen them yet
Oh, but they’re so spaced out,
Duracell and the Jets
Oh, but they’re weird and they’re wonderful
Oh, Duracell, he’s really keen
He’s got electric boots, a mohair suit
You know I read it in a magazine, oh, yeah
Duracell and the Jets

Octane’s brownies are guaranteed gluten free. Gee Whiz, wouldn’t it be great if everything was void of ingredients as advertised?

The route for Monday, Aug 26 will be the backdoor entrance to Riley Tavern. Full strength 30 miles with a short pour option of 25ish miles, departure times from Middleton Hills 4:45 and 5PM. **For those competing in the Funtathalon in Sept, this route is the second road segment, so you can get a sneak preview.

RidewithGPS Drafters | Backdoor Riley

RidewithGPS Drafters | Backdoor Riley Short Pour

THERE WILL NOT BE A DRAFT THE FOLLOWING MONDAY . ENJOY YOUR LABOR DAY WEEKEND.

Draft responsibly,

BrickO