Well...that was fun?

So the SCDOT is replacing a bridge on the Tues/Thurs loop, so a "new" loop was devised. Seems it's the normal loop backwards, but with a few changes.
Last night, we decided to try to keep the group together, so everyone could see the new loop firsthand.
Yeah, that shit lasted until South Congaree...and the two bobos on the ride decided to work together, and create a split.  No, it wasn't a split by the normal definition. It was a split created by a complete lack of handling skills, spatial awareness, and regard for others.
One moron followed the other, and swept dead left, through the middle of the group. I grabbed a handful of brake to keep from getting chopped, thus slowing down the back half of the bunch, and the gap was there.
I had decided that I wasn't going to ride hard, as Monday was a chiro/physio day, but the show of stupidity irritated me to the point that I got on the front, set a pace that those who were affected could manage, and started to reel in the split.
If not for the Camry that tried to kill us, the group would have come together.
As it happened, once on the backside of Glenn, the passengers on the front bunch exploded, and were caught anyway, and the group came back together at the bottom.
Once all together, the rest of the ride was quite nice. The pace was high enough that the aforementioned bobos couldn't even venture near the front, thus everyone was safe for the remainder of the trip home.
The "new" backwards loop seems harder, yet the speeds seem higher.  Who knows?  Don't ask me, I just work here...

 Katusha's aero Canyon is not unattractive...

 And Griepel's retro Noah... #woof

 Yet another photo that proves Jered Gruber is a pretty damn brilliant photographer.

The Tour route...as a London Underground map.  Wouldn't mind having this to frame and hang...
Speaking of Le Tour, after many a crash, Andrew Talansky fell off the pace today, obviously injured.  The extent of the injury isn't known yet, but dude was clearly suffering.  He got off at one point, and had a long conversation with Robbie Hunter, himself once a hardman of the Eurodog persuasion.
After this conversation, AT climbed back on his bike, eyes full of tears, and battled like a fucking Spartan...alone...for the next hour...followed only by his team car, and the voiture balai.
Fans along the road waited, and cheered just as hard as they would have if he'd been off the front.
Fans at the finish stayed, and banged on the boards as if the stage was coming to a bunch gallop for the win.
The time cut was 37 minutes and change.  He made it with just a couple of minutes to spare. 
His nickname is 'The Pitbull". I don't know how well that fits, but I do know that Talansky is is hard as they come.  As we used to say, that guy is "nails"...
Mad respect.

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