LaGrange 200K Brevet

Saturday's LaGrange 200K brevet had expected and unexpected parts.  First, I expected and looked forward to riding with my rando buddies Dick and Ian.  Unexpectedly, I also got to ride with Brandon and Dub, two rando buddies that I hadn't seen in a while.  The five of us had such a companionable group, and we rode at a similar pace.  I really enjoyed being with them all day.

The route itself turned out to be unexpected.  Last fall, Dick, Ian, and I rode the Thomaston Franklin 200K permanent.  I just assumed that Saturday's brevet route would be the same.  The first clue that it would be different was that the brevet didn't start at the Waffle House in Thomaston, where so many of Daniel's routes begin.

Before any brevet or permanent, I recreate the route in Garmin Connect using the cue sheet, which I then upload to my Garmin.  This allows me to get familiar with the route turn by turn.  Not that I remember every detail, but it's certainly better than going into a ride blindly.  I never would simply upload a provided route file to my Garmin.  As I recreated Saturday's route earlier in the week, it didn't seem like last year's permanent route.  For one thing, I didn't remember going into Alabama last year.  It turns out that the LaGrange 200K route is, indeed, significantly different from last year's Thomaston Franklin 200K permanent route.  Adventure definitely was on the horizon.

I often associate music with my riding.  A snippet of song might get stuck in my head like a mantra during a time trial, keeping me focused.  Also, singing songs in my head or out loud has helped me push through on brevets, particularly 400Ks and 600Ks.  Highlights of Saturday's ride can be summarized through music, too.

Yes

For me, Yes was the overall theme music for the day.  About 22 miles into the route, we came to a traffic circle.  As we rode around it, I attempted to sing Roundabout by Yes.  Actually, it's more like I attempted to sing/hum the instrumental part.  There's a reason progressive rock songs aren't more prominent in karaoke.

Dick also reminded me of Yes, in particular the line "move on back two squares" from I've Seen All Good People, because he is the squarest pedalar I've ever known.  I've read about the difference between square pedaling and a smoother, more circular motion.  Square pedaling may not be as efficient, but Dick can outride most other cyclists I know.

Michigan J. Frog

Somewhere along Long Cane Road, Dick dropped back to pick up a bag of food that fell out of his pocket.  The rest of us soft pedaled until he caught up.  I turned into a fire station.  Some small magnolia trees caught my eye because they were blooming several months past the usual flowering season.  I stopped to inhale a bit of their wonderful, lemony fragrance.

This reminded me of a comic strip that a friend had shared with me just a few days before:

About a half mile after we turned off of Long Cane Road, we passed Ribitz Bait and Tackle.  The logo on the side of the building made me laugh out loud.  I didn't stop for a photo (guess which character in the cartoon above is more like me...), but I did find one online:

The Ribitz frog woke up some brain cell I hadn't accessed in at least 30 years.  I remembered a classic Looney Tunes cartoon with a singing, dancing frog who would perform in front of the guy who found him, but in front of an audience, he was like any other run-of-the-mill frog.  When I researched this cartoon memory online on Saturday night, I discovered that the frog even has a name: Michigan J. Frog.  Here's a blast from the past:

Hello My Baby

Do a YouTube search for several full-length Looney Tunes cartoons with Michigan J. Frog.

Throughout the ride, our group had a general discussion of personality types.  I have a slight Type B streak, but overall I'm definitely Type A.  My rando buddies got a taste of this a couple of times on Saturday.  For example, at one of the controls we had to take a picture at the dam at West Point Lake.  We opted for a group selfie (taken through a slightly fogged up selfie lens):

(L-R: me, Dub, Ian, Dick, and Brandon)

As I e-mailed it to Daniel immediately afterwards, I carefully made sure to list our names in alphabetical order.

We rode about a dozen miles in Alabama.  As we headed back east into Georgia, I sprinted ahead of my buddies to be the first over the state line.  Type B, my foot.

Dick then brought up Myers-Briggs personality types.  He couldn't believe that I'm an I (introvert) instead of and E (extrovert).  People commonly misunderstand this personality aspect.  Being introverted doesn't mean you're shy.  Introverted vs. extroverted has to do with where you get your energy from.  If you get your energy from alone time, you're an introvert.  If you get your energy from other people, you're an extrovert.  I enjoy being with other people - to an extent.  (I'm OK.  You're OK - in small doses.)  I don't even mind speaking to large groups if it's a topic I'm interested in.  However, I thrive on hours of alone time each day.  That makes my occasional social outings like yesterday quite enjoyable.

ZZ Top

An obvious musical connection for the LaGrange 200K is ZZ Top.  ("They got a lot of nice girls.  A haw haw haw." - see my ride report from 11/23/16)  Alas, unlike last year's permanent, Saturday's brevet route didn't go into LaGrange proper; we just cruised around greater metropolitan LaGrange.

Nevertheless, Dub helped me get my ZZ Top fix by being such a Sharp Dressed Man.  He has the coolest cycling shoes I've ever seen:

Appropriately, I heard Sharp Dressed Man on the radio as I drove home.

The Dixie Chicks

Between Peach Peloton in the wintertime, brevets, and permanents, I've ridden on Highway 109 near Molena and Woodbury a number of times.  Every time I do, I think of an obscure lyric in Goodbye Earl by the Dixie Chicks.  It's a darkly comic song about a very serious topic: domestic abuse.

Lifelong friends Mary Anne and Wanda kill Wanda's abusive husband Earl after the law fails to adequately protect her from him.  Mary Anne and Wanda do him in with blackeyed peas.  They literally get away with murder because nobody misses the good-for-nothing Earl.

"So the girls bought some land and a roadside stand out on Highway 109.  They sell Tennessee ham and strawberry jam..."

On Saturday's brevet we did stop at a roadside stand out on Highway 109 in Woodbury, which was an open control.  I was psyched to see a sign for peach ice cream.  Unfortunately, their ice cream machine wasn't working.  Instead, I bought a small basket of peaches to share with my rando buddies.  I was a little surprised to see peaches this late in the summer.  They probably weren't Georgia peaches, but they still tasted pretty good.

Thank you to Daniel and Joe for such great route support on Saturday!  I look forward to the next Audax Atlanta cycling adventure.  Til then, ride on!  Or as Led Zeppelin would say, "Ramble On"!