The Usual Suspects

I ride with a group called the Ocean Isle Beach Cyclists or the OIB Cyclists.  I prefer to call them the Ocean Isle Boys Cyclists because typically 9.8 times out of 10 I am the only girl on the rides.  We ride on Wednesdays and Saturdays from the local bike shop called Island Hoppers. 

Sam, The Masher, Darryl, Mike P., The Dominator!!

The Saturday rides usually break up into two groups, I do my best to hang with the A group.  They are the typical cyclists who like to torture each other during the course of the ride.  It hurts - a lot, but it has made me a stronger rider and its helped out tremendously in my races.  I know that riding with cyclists who are faster than me will pay off in big dividends.  There are riders known as  The Masher and The Dominator, this lets you know what to expect on these rides.  There is Mike P. who looks out for me if I get off the back and John who is always in good spirits with a smile and a cheerful "Good Morning". There are many other riders who show up on occasion - Peter, Sam and Darryl to name a few.  I was told by The Masher that I'm not a girl on the ride anymore, I guess this means that I have proven myself and am deemed good enough to ride with The Boys.  

Now the Wednesday rides are composed of several riders who I have nicknamed "The Usual Suspects".  These are the guys who show up week in and week out ready to ride.  They are committed cyclists and pretty much every year ride Cycle North Carolina, a week long ride across the state.  They are smart, funny and have become my friends here at the beach.  

Harvey, Me, Steve and Roy

 Here we are at the opening of the Sunset Beach Bridge ride/walk.  I was the second person over the bridge. The bike shop owner, Steve was the first one to cross.

Harvey is known as our "Fearless Leader".  He plans out our rides and when he is out of town we all seem to get confused as to where we are going and lose a rider or two.  We decided that if Harvey is going to be out of town that he needs to let us all know ahead of time which route we are taking.  Roy is on the right and celebrated his 80th Birthday a couple months back. 



Peter, Harvey, Bruce and Steve

Here is another picture with a couple more of The Usual Suspects.  Notice they are standing below a billboard - THE BIG CATS.  Perfect for them!