Nov 15 – Kickoff
15th November 2008 by brtoone
No, we’re not talking about football. We’re talking about the first ride of the 2008-2009 Birmingham Bike League! We had a great turnout today and when I pulled into the parking lot I was greeted with a sea of colorful riders gathered around Terry “the master” Duran who was orienting everyone on the route, the rules, and the goals of the training series. Then we were off!
The stop-lights in town were not conducive to a nice cohesive group, but eventually we made it out of town on Hwy 78 and on over to Leeds to the first official pee break. For future rides, the pee break will be announced ahead of time and everyone should stop when the designated ride leader stops! Then it was on to the rest of our fall exploratory observatory ohsobeautifulhereinthefallinalabamatory jaunt around the rural countryside east and south of Birmingham.
No results to report this week, but we have pinned down the start and finish for the second attack zone to be used in future instances of Terry’s Camp Winnie ride. See the map and description below:
Attack zone #2 - click to enlarge
Attack zone #2 – Holy rollers – 2.9 miles
The not-meant-to-be-irreverent name comes from the fact that the road is rolling, and the church on your left will be an indication that you are within a couple hundred meters from the finish line of this attack zone!
The attack zone begins when the whistle blows after we make the left onto Hwy 55 at the Hwy 43/55 split. At this point, we will be in a particularly rolling section of the road. Then we will do a larger climb followed by a longer downhill. A short flat section leads into a medium-length kicker of a hill at the crest of which is a church on your left as the road bends somewhat sharply to the right. As soon as you complete the righthand bend, you will see a large pond to your right and just past that a yellow caution sign indicating that the road is about to bend to the left — this is your goal, the attack zone finish line! Be the first to make it past the yellow caution sign, and you will earn yourself 5 points!