Wolf King pulls off another win!
Bissell Boy Makes History!
Last Minion Ride of the Year, or was it?
Belo News
Galesburg, Mi.
November 14, 2009
Galesburg, Mi. – One more week! One more week!
It was a refrain that was heard most of Saturday morning as 13 Minions showed up to ride what might have been the last “official” Minion ride of the 2009 season.
Another fantastic weather morning greeted our intrepid hero’s as they began unloading their steeds, as well as their extra cloths. The temp was around 52 degrees at launch time and as you can see from the photo, Hossman was in retro gear at the start. Apparently his regular helmet was run over by the car. An attempt on his part to see if this was covered in the warranty revealed that Fischer Price would only replace the helmet if his head was in said helmet at the time of the accident. So, Hossman got an Igloo Cooler for a helmet. Hossman was so excited to show everyone the solid Styrofoam interior that he took it off to reveal chew marks on the Styrofoam, to which everyone was afraid to ask what that was all about. To round out his cycling attire, he was wearing a cotton long sleeve T under his Tony Jersey along with his high school wrestling sweat pants!
The start was delayed as Wolf King made several attempts to take a photo of the group. The Update is not sure if the photo came out or not because he didn’t send it to the Update BEFORE press time!
In addition to Hossman, those in attendance on this glorious morning included Bissell Boy, Sharkman and All Black in their Team Bissell kit, Just Jerry, Stroker and Hoosier Boy were back, Wolf King, Dutch, Kid Doster, Rainman, and Danimal after his appearance at the Iceman with H1N1 (What a stud!), and Gazelle Girl showed up on the way out of town. And then they were 13, a new record for late season attendance!
Our intrepid hero, the Sharkman, was led out, or should we say inspired, for the first sprint by Wolf King. Sharkman had a hard time catching on to the streaking Wolf Kings wheel, but in deference to the “Patron of the Peloton,” WK pulled off to give Sharkman the honorary stop ahead.
For the second week in a row, the Bissell Boys were at the front along with Wolf King when our new Labrador quadruped friends decided to run out to greet us. After a great deal of barking, shouting and copious amounts of water squirted from water bottles, our two new friends retreated in hopes of getting the Minions next week. However, it sure screwed up the ensuing sprint, which was sort of given to Wolf King.
The Mighty Minion nation continued through the col de Twin lakes and Kellogg Korner, when Kid Doster threw in a humongous pull before Sharkman took over. As they made the turn to head for the Rt. 43 sprint, Zickman appeared with his entourage going in the opposite direction doing his yearly run around the lake! (No, we don’t know why he does that….).
With Sharkman at the front, Wolf King made an early move, to which Bissell Boy, cutting a fine figure on his Pinarello, responded and took the Rt. 43 sprint for the second week in a row!
As the Mighty Minion Nation headed south after the climb up the col de Norte, they were greeted by a warm, but stiff head wind. Try as they might, the Minions didn’t seem to want to play together and a pace line never really formed up. The sprinters went early on the Bible Conference Hills, where Rainman went out to take the C Ave. sprint going away.
All Black and Wolf King fought it out alone for the Inlet Sprint, with Wolf King edging out the wily All Black.
As is the norm, the peloton grouped up at the Rt. 89 crossing and quickly formed up a double pace line at Sharkman insistence. As they moved south, Gazelle Girl complained that since the wind was out of the southwest, the peloton was rotating in the wrong direction. Gazelle Girl was actually able to get this crew of pace line challenged riders to reverse the direction of rotation in mid-pace line! An incredible feat of nature! Go Girl!
This was just a bit of the Gazelle Girl magic, as she worked the rotation to her benefit. As the Mighty Minion Nation headed toward the G Ave. sprint, Gazelle Girl took over and swept the sprint up like, well….a Gazelle! Just like the early season, Gazelle Girl OWNS the G Ave. sprint!
As our Minions headed south to the finish, Sharkman, Hossman and Stroker took up the early lead out. No one wanted to play in the pace line and so the Minions just let the three lead out. Sharkman later stated that as they approached the final hill to the finish he looked in his mirror and saw hordes of Minions descending on his wheel like a “Plague of Locust!”
As the school of sharks reached the final hill, Stroker made a move and immediately realized he had moved to soon and after findingt himself at the front alone was heard to say, “I’m screwed……”
It was then that Rainman made a huge jump to the front and as he ramped up the speed with a shift to the big gear, his chain skipped and Wolf King, Bissell Boy, Dutch and others saw there chance to jump as he lost momentum. It was pretty obvious that had Rainman not experienced the miss shift; he would have been very hard to catch.
In one of the closer sprint finishes of the year, with all 13 Minions in the mix, Wolf King edged out Bissell Boy while Dutch filled out the final podium spot!
It was Bissell Boy’s first podium finish and the crowds went wild as he coasted in on his carbon steed!
With the great weather, the fans were lined 4 to 5 deep along the Champs le Galesburg as the Minions zipped up their jerseys for the sponsors.
The Klutch was rocking when the Minions appeared for the press conference and the paparazzi lined up to talk to Bissell Boy on his late season form.
The major talk centered on what a great season it has been and that no one wanted the season to end. Immediately, the shouts of “One more week, one more week!” were heard through out the Klutch.
So, the Minions will ride another week! It might be without the Sharkman, but there will be a ride for anyone who shows!
Launch Time – 9:00 A.M. – SHARP!
Be there for the final edition!
