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well, the weekend was PERFECT! sunny, warm (hot!), great riding. got off at a reasonable hour, despite the Prez showing up LATE. we had a bit of a headwind in store for day-1, but the sunny weather made it so much easier to bear. the fellas rolled out w/ the early group to get an easy start to the weekend. just crusin' about 15-16 mph into the wind. after 10 miles or so, B and I jumped onto the back of a somewhat faster group...doing about 19mph, but we just sat in and shot the breeze enjoying the ride. after a spell, we decided to sit up and wait for our group. we were doing about the same 15-16 mph as before, but doing all the work ourselves...in other words working alot harder than we had just been, while going alot slower. so something had to give, and we decided to stop and wait. after 7-8 minutes...took a leak, stretched...they rolled up on us and we rejoined. kept on tooling along, say 16-17-18mph now. a little more tempo, otherwise we'd never get there! then about 15 miles out of chilly, the late group rolled up on us in a flash out of nowhere. led by some cat-2s they swooped on us. i was next to Ken at the time and he jumped right on along with Dobbs. i didnt recognize anyone, but jumped on anyways as the pace was hectic and the competitive juices took over. we were HUMPIN'...doing 25+ mph into the wind! fast, Fast, FAST. i looked next to me, and recognized Jed's ugly mug, then looked up and down the line and realized i was amongst my own! Manny, Andy, Russ, Coolie, Matt, etc...we kept it rollin' at this brisk pace right into chilli. nice. after a stop, onto the hills...we had a mixed-bag of groups rolling out in dribs and drabs. all i really recall is the newbie Donal jumping and attacking up every hill, and Lennie screaming about his leg cramping up. we rolled strong into waverly after having laid waste to the hills. now another chill break in waverly. at this point i hooked up w/ Andy for the final roll into p-town. we rode steady tempo trying half-heartedly to catch up w/ Ken and Coolie and some others that were ahead. about a mile from p-town, we rolled down on them! granted i was a little cooked @ that point, but decided to challenge Ken for day-1 honors. sadly, i didnt quite have the legs to get it done...but i was there. separately, Stuart and B had another situation in waverly: a combination of events put Stuarts completion of day-1 in jeopardy. he was feelin' low, and even gave up a little gak for good measure. some encouragement and sage advice from B set Stuart in the right direction. a nice 10 mile tow out of town, and Stuart's day turned around...heck, he even managed to jump on the Jed-led train and rolled strong all the way into p-town. REPRESENT! normal situation in p-town...high 5's all around as we waited for the various groups to finish out with sunburn aplenty. SAG arrived and we got our kits to shower up, then onto the new church for relaxation. it's a much nicer setup now, by the way. during dinner @ the church i was feeling a bit catatonic, but the legs werent bad. normal farting around in the evening, then we set-up the sleep situation with Stuart bringing along what appeared to be a king size air mattress that took up most of the room. it's like having a sick c-50 makes him king of the hill or something?! nice. that's actually the hookup to get for next year! now the evening discussions took place, and i gotta say that B and Stu were hedging a bit. talkin' about 50, then SAG and whatnot. what's up w/ that?! i was giving 'em shit, just because it's a faze crew requirement, but we all have our limits...so after a fitful night of insufficient sleep (got up at like 5:30 or so) we went to bob evan's to get our grub on. some fellas opted for light stuff like oatmeal, but i went with something heavy: a BLT w/ fried egg and cheese - YUM! a bruh's gotta fuel up! back to the church...packed, cleaned-up, some morning pictures...then rolled out. the 1st leg to waverly was uneventful, save for a smattering of piss-breaks. we chilled @ like 16mph. short break @ waverly, and B discovered a minor mechanical: a broken spoke in the back wheel. unfortunately it was unfixable so off to the hills with a small group composed of B, Joeski, Stu, myself...and some others mixed in. we found that going up the hills caused B's back wheel to flex and whip the offending spoke into his frame - a problem. so he and i stopped to "fix" it. unfortunately, it was beyond the tools we had at our disposal (never get boutique wheels!), but by the grace of God a guy stopped to help us and had wire cutters. a quick snip, and the offending spoke was gone! so we jumped back on, but keep in mind that Joe and Stu kept rolling (and i think Stuart actually picked up the pace...real nice, Stu!) and opened up a sizeable gap. also several other fellas like John-T and i forget who else rolled by while we were stopped. so we dropped the hammer and closed 'em town in team time trial fashion @ 23+mph, just eatin 'em up! we blew by everyone until we rejoined stuart, then just rolled tempo. this was nice. then on one section, stuart missed a turn and got held up. B and i just kept noodling along at a modest pace figuring they'd rejoin shortly, but it didnt seem to be happening (payback's a bitch, eh Stu?)...Stu and Joe did rejoin @ some point and we had a nice little chain gang doing tempo into chilli. stopped @ wendy's to fuel up and had a great time. Jeff drove down to SAG B back to cowbungus, as his day was done (i still think he could have easily done the last 50). at this point Stu was feelin' GOOD...he committed to finish out day-2 in style (and do his c-50 right). while eating, several other groups rolled into wendys during the wait and we had a nice group of 10 or so rolling out for the last 50. just as we were rolling out, another group rolled into wendys (the last group that left p-town). it was getting HOT at this point, and we maintained a solid 18-19mph temp w/ the quartering tailwind. after 10 or so miles, stuff happens and the pace started jumping and a group sawed off the front: Coolie, Mannie, George, Lennie, and myself. however, there were still 3 riders ahead that never stopped in chilli: Ken, Dr. Spoke, and Gilbert. our group kept rolling fine @ 20-23mph, but things got hectic again and we lost george and manny. so down to the final 3 trading pulls into columbus. strong! Lennie was riding like a bone-head, sitting in then jumping us. Coolie and i wanted to keep it steady, but shit happens - so it wasnt the most constructive last 40 miles. plus i ran out of water w/ 15 to go. fun! but Coolie hooked me up w/ some gatorade and i managed. we caught up w/ Dr. Spoke and Gilbert just outside of columbus, but Ken was already there - he's strong and his lead was too much to make up. Lennie kept jumping, so Coolie and I left him w/ a gap up high street as the ride was OVER. rolled up to Planks and got some drink on and waited for the fellas to roll in. stuart styled in on his c-50, floating on air. man, what a day! all i know is, all the faze crew _needs_ to get back on the bike for TOSRV '05!!! walter Fellas, let me first start by saying that the Major was certainly smiling down on us from the Carbo Party to the very end of the ride at Plank's! We could not have asked for better weather for a ride that just happen to be our 25th year as the MTCC! I personally want to say to each of you thanks for probably one of, if not the best, TOSRV weekends I have ever had. Just outstanding!! I also would like to thank each of you for helping with the smooth transition of our stay at the Cornerstone Methodist Church there in Portsmouth. I believe that we made a very good impression and couldn't have asked to be treated any better than we were...hey, Valet Parking of bicycles?!!! With know that we need the church each year to make our ride as MTCC doable, I really appreciate the help that each of you gave to me on Sunday morning in helping to clean up the church and leave it as we found it. Thanks again! And to the group of guys that stayed inn the church, thanks for making a great impression on the folks from the church as to how appreciative we were of their hospitality. And for the "I'm Rick James b**%#@" group of guys that stayed in the area where I did (ya know who you are), I had a great time with you and am looking forward already to next year and any other ride before then, that we can get together on...it was great!! Let me throw out a few personal thanks to some guys that also help make the 25th a success; Let's give Lloyd "Dickie" Pate a super thanks for always, I mean always, allowing us to start and end from his place on Bryden Road every year. To Andy Allwein for his ever constant care of each of us whether its our bodies or bikes, Andy helps anybody and everyone. Thanks. To Allan for some outstanding pics of the event...all of which help tell the story for years to come. Thanks To Matt for his patience in taking the group shot of what will become my Screen Saver on my computer. Thanks To Danny Cunningham for, once again, an outstanding job as our "Personal Sag Master" Thanks To El President for Life, for his outstanding leadership and help in pulling this off every year for 25 years. Thanks To each and every MTCC member for continuing to support what I have now coined as a "Therapy Ride Weekend" because of the great friendship, camaraderie and just an excellent group of good friends and members, and last but by no means least, to someone that rides with us not only for TOSRV, but each and every time we click into our pedals and sees that we all get back home safe and sound....the Almighty!! Amen So Fellas I want to thank you for a great time and an opportunity for me to make a comeback into riding on a more regular basis this year and from here on out....I would not do it with any other group of friends. just the Majors. Peace & Health John T. Fellas, now that I am back in Philly and I have had time to think about this past weekends events surrounding TOSRV I must say this was the best ride I have had the pleasure to be a part of. I dont know exactly where to start so why dont I try the begginning, the pasta party. The pasta party was full of tasty carbs and hearty doses of laughs and history of the Major himself and of the MTCC's as a club which I must thank the Prez for providing that history since my knowledge of those events was sorely lacking. I really enjoyed the roasting of Dr. Spoke with stories that are as funny today as they must have been out on the open road. I want to say thanks to Dobbs and Gene Bailey for starting Saturday morning off right with a power filled mixture of oatmeal and bananas ( now you guys know where the banana scented gas came from ) and I also want to say thanks to Joe Straughter for playing Seal's new cd on the ride to Dickies house which got my mind right for a long day in the saddle. Matt rumora kicked off the festivities in official style with some sweet pictures of the whole group - including a slightly later than expected appearance by the Prez, but who's counting minutes - even managing to get himself in the picture with that space age camera of his, thanks Matt because you made the whole crew look fly. The roll out of Columbus was sweet with Ken controlling most of the pace and inturn doing most of the pulls with the rest of the boys taking pulls equally while all the time keeping the pace manageable so that everybody could warmup for the first 30 to 40 miles before the MTCC train (led by Jed, Cooley, Andy, Russ, Lenny, Mannie, Matt, and George) came rolling thru around the 42 mile point to drag everybody into Chilly. I wont go thru every detail of the ride but I want to say thanks to Bryon for some good nutritional advice in Waverly and a big thanks to Russ and Jed for pulling me to P-Town at about 23 mph to end day one. Day two couldnt have been better, a calorie filled Bob Evans breakfast with plenty of MTCC's in the house and then a sweet 30 mile roll to Waverly with no big jumps in speed and plenty of team work. I felt as if I were riding for a major European team the way we worked together taking smart pulls at the front and not burning each other out - thanks again for that teamwork boys. Over the next 70 miles to the C-Bus I noticed many MTCC's on the road enjoying the ride, giving out advice, chasing down breaks, recovering wisely, diggind deep inside themselves and overall representing the Major superbly - I am very proud to be a member of such a fine group of riders of all skill levels. I know I am getting long winded but I want to say thanks to Joe, Stan, Gene, and Dobbs for the knowledge they shared with me and I want to say thanks to all the other MTCC who helped me in too many ways to name. Thanks for a sweet roll boys and I look forward to our next gathering. Stuart