Madison Area Bicycle Club
Thursday Night Rides 2015..
The Goat Ride...
July 16,2015 - By: Tom Pritchard
Short ride for this evenings regular scheduled Thursday Night Ride. Many of the regulars were out of town. Those who attended was Marty Lieskie, Bob Canida, myself and a good friend of Charlie McPeek's. His name was Clint. Clint asked if he could join our ride tonight. Sure..no problem...
As posted earlier in the week I announced that the Starting place for this ride has changed. Due to the activity going on at the shopping center new fencing had taken over the parking area were most riders park their cars. The new location was at Walmart next to the Garden Center.
Weather was clear and fairly hot. Not as hot as I would have thought. Due to the new start location we left the parking lot a different way. Instead of battling the new construction for the round about being built on US 421 we elected to ride through parking lot and behind Lowes. This brought us out next to the VFW on Michigan Road. From there we headed north to CR400 and got back on our normal route.
This ride being Clints first ride with the club, he was not quite sure how fast he could go and how long, so we decided to go with our normal pace and do the 17 mile route. Besides others are wanting to return about 7:30.
As a group we stayed together the whole ride. After trurning onto Deputy Pike and making our climb up the hill we passed a farm house on the left that had many farm animals roaming the grounds. Some were inside the fence area and others not. One animal in particular was not fenced in, as we passed and Marty trailing behind me this goat started chasing us. Right down the road he comes. Making all kinds of Goat talk..I was too concerned about how far he might go so I opted to ride back towards the barn to make sure he did not stray too far away. Not like a dog, the goat may not know how to return so I turned around and he started chasing me. Getting back to the barn I looked to see if the owners were around the house. No one to be seen. I don't think he should have been out of fence. Finally the goat retreated back into the barn.
Returning back into town, we went straight across Hutchinson Lane and back to Walmart.
Once we said our goodbyes, Charlie McPeek just rolled in the parking lot in his truck. Charlie had hopes of meeting up with us earlier, but his work made him run late.
Thanks to those who showed up tonight..See everyone next week.
Ride Safe
Tom
Last Thursday Night Ride on April 2015
April 30,2015 - By: Tom Pritchard
Cool, raining a little and some sun was the condition of this week’s Thursday Night Ride. As predicted by Louisville TV station the rain was supposed to leave our area around 6:00. I would say they hit it head on. Right at 6 I was very close to calling off the event until Marty Leiske pulled in. I asked Marty, do you want to ride? He said “Let’s go for it”. As we prepared our bikes to ride I saw a rider pass by, turn around in Autozone and then headed back towards us. Marty and I had a chance to meet Howard Hinze. He had heard of the MABC from Mickey Waller, so he had to see what it was all about.
Howard is a transplant from Louisville. He works at one of the local industry places here in Madison. For years he had commuted back and forth from Louisville until he and his wife bit the bullet and bought a home here in Madison.
About 6:15 or so we headed out. The rain had stopped and the sun started to shine. Even thou the sun was out, the air was still cool. I dressed in layers. Along the way Marty and I had a chance to share MABC lore with Howard. Following the same 24 mile route, Howard split off at Paper Mill Road. It was nice to meet a new face and hopefully he will return next week.
Marty and I continued our trek, only encountering a couple dogs along the way. As always we had some great conversations and before you knew it, we were almost back home. Marty was hoping to reach his 800 mile mark tonight for the year. Since he drove his truck over instead of riding his bike, he saw that he could run short of his goal. As we headed back to the parking lot, Marty decided to split off and capture those extra two miles to reach his goal. So right about the area of Taco Bell he split off. I’m to assume that he was successful doing so. Myself, I headed back to my truck and headed to the house. According to my Strava, the ride was right at 22.40 miles for me.
Hope to see you at our next TNR. ..
Ride Safe
Tom Pritchard