Intro In the early days of American Road Cycling, that is to say on the first day, it was clear that some recognition should be given to The Hump riders who each week gaze up Ridgebury Road and dream of dropping all those who venture onto its slopes with them. It had become common knowledge that this 1.5 mile climb signaled the true beginning of the Saturday morning ride—which most people recognize as a race. Lesser riders in that wretched, Taliban laden, right-wing, group-think monstrosity that the local club had become, always spit the words, "So what's the big deal with Ridgebury. That's not much of a climb. In fact the whole Hump is mostly all flat and easy. Our little sideshow of a "B" ride is much harder. We know that is so, because we are the ones who ride it. Why by golly, we even got several 7 second power climbs. If you don't take the regular breaks to regroup, you can actually start breathing hard on them. Sometimes there is even sweat involved. Well anyway, there was sweat once—that day SlingShot showed up." On the other side of the coin are statements coming from those who ride The Hump such as, "Well, sure. Lance does ok in the Alps, but how would he do on Ridgebury?" You see, it is not the inherent angle of the dangling slope that matters, but rather the ferocity of the motion going up and down it, most especially up it. Of course the lesser riders have no way of knowing this, because they are never there (or only briefly) when it happens, even though they sometimes tag along for the warm-up. So to give the fast riders some well deserved recognition, American Road Cycling contracted to purchase jerseys and instituted the Ridgebury Prime series in the Spring of '05. As with most things American Road Cycling, the Ridgebury Prime competitions took a turn for the odd, so the tales must be read in sequential order for any sense to be made of them. Here are the stories of the 2005 Ridgebury Prime. Click the numbers in order, else it all seems pretty bizarre...ok, you are correct, it is bizarre any way you look at it. In any case,
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HERE. Editor's Note: To further confuse you, one button is blanked, because the 4th winner of the jersey is found by following the progression of WRITING CONTEST WINNERS.
this page last updated: 06/14/2013 08:04:58 AM |
