Spring returned to Delmarva this week and OVC took advantage of it. About 17 riders -- Alex, Caleb, Bruce, Russ, Chris, Melissa, Scott H., Sonny, Dean S., Dean P., Roscoe, Ted, Kevin L-G, Frankie, Steve, Roscoe, and Sean -- rolled out of the church with a stiff 18 mph tailwind guiding them south.
Wattage was kept in check, but speeds were predictably high. Once again, a segment was claimed, with a 5.7 mile SB stretch of Meadowbridge being traversed at over 28 mph. After Furnace Town, a few riders peeled off on Sand Road, happy to have hitched a ride on the pain train. By this time, an early 4-man break had formed up, but it was neutralized after Frankie took a turn towards Rt. 12. Steve nobly helped to pace our man back to the group.
The remaining 11 riders headed down Scotty and began to look a little wobbly. Some probing attacks resulted in one casualty on Scotty, but things got serious after the turn onto Whitesburg. Roscoe used the now-adverse winds to stretch out the group. After a few minutes of clawing for position, the field was split into two 5-man groups. The gap stayed close for a few several miles, but by the Four Corners intersection is was up to nearly a minute.
For the five leaders -- Frankie, Dean P., Steve, Sean, and Roscoe -- the final 14 miles was a challenge. Steve took some long pulls to keep things together. Frankie got dropped, then somehow teleported himself back a few minutes later. With the overpass in sight, everyone began evaluating the competition (especially considering Mark “The Shark” was taking this week off).
Roscoe took the first dig with 1 km to go to keep everyone honest. Steve responded with a typical monster pull. For the next few hundred meters, Frankie and Dean played a little cat-and-mouse, but the wily Dean captured the St. Luke’s Overpass Honors with his usual panache.
The 37.5 mile course was completed in about 1 hr 28 min for an average speed of about 25.5 mph. Great work, OVC!