The Ranatra Fusca Award is given to the Odyssey of the Mind project that is deemed the most creative solution to a given problem. In my days of teaching high school physics and sponsor of several OM teams, the Ranatra Fusca always meant more to me than even the team winning the state competition. On Saturday, January 26^th, the CCRiders had our first official MS training ride. What was billed as a social, easy 32-mile loop escalated into a disjointed, but creative century.

As per tradition, the pre-ride meal was a lardbar breakfast. Slick, who normally is the first to arrive (primarily due to the fact he never goes to bed), was surprised to see Batman already seated at IHOP. Tonto busted tail to get there first only to have his jaw drop to realize he was only third. Mr. Poppins and Rocket Girl arrived in matching fluorescent vests. Critz completed the sextet.

The start of the ride was a balmy 48 degrees. There were many regular CCRiders, including the I-man himself, as well as several new faces. Slick agreed to lead six of the Crash Test dummies on an extension of the proposed route in order to complete a metric century. This group consisted of Dash and the lardbar breakfast attendees, except Mr. Poppins (who volunteered to lead the baby ducks on the 32-mile route). There was a slight tail wind, but Tonto still was disgruntled about following the lack of draft from Bat's 'Bent.

There were only two brief rest stops, which kept Slick and the Rocket Girl in good spirits. Despite the cool temps, there was not the usual need to stop for a leak every ten miles. We made it back to the start with minimal provocation. Most drivers were courteous, but we had one a-number-one donkey buzz are single-file paceline during a long, lightly traveled road.

The decision was made to join the Poppins contingency at a local Tex-Mex restaurant for lunch. It was there that we discovered the new nickname for one of our riders. Kelly has ridden with us previously and now seems quite serious about training for this year's MS150. As in most cases, she was eager to be dubbed an alias to fit in with the other cartoon characters. Dash had done a pre-ride inspection of her bike and may have offered some warning about the condition of her rear wheel, but either he lacked conviction or she simply didn't care. Apparently, near the mid-point (i.e., the farthest point from the start), her rear wheel developed quite a wiggle. Now, women have been successfully using the rear wiggle technique for centuries, but this was clearly a safety issue for Mr. Poppins. Upon his inspection, he proclaimed she had rusty nipples on her wheel. What may have been intended, as an innocent, honest observation suddenly became--to the "udder" delight of Kelly--her nickname. Critz queried if Rusty Nipples sagged the rest of the ride, but apparently Mr. Poppins surrendered his Trek (which has had the same chain for nearly 8000 miles) to Rusty.

Mr. Poppins then rode Tamara's bike because she decided to relieve Ish in the sag truck. Mr. Poppins was quite the sight as he was perched upon this undersized frame. The explanation eluded us as to why Rusty didn't simply ride Tamara's bike, but I'm sure there was a valid reason.

Also, at lunch, Tonto and Slick, always in search of points, concocted the notion of riding 37 more miles to complete the full century. Doing so would not only add 37 points, but would also garnish a bonus of 20 points for completing a century--albeit a rather strange one. Not surprisingly, minimal coercion was needed to persuade Batman to join in. Mr. Poppins also went along with the proposition.

After changing out of our clothes, eating a big lunch, and driving 10 miles west, we put our damp clothes back on and headed out. There is a bonus for 100 miles, but not for 101. When we returned, the cyclometer showed 98 miles, so we headed out of town a mile and back to end up with 100.25 miles. Although the sun was obscured more than the forecast had predicted, the temperature had climbed into the low 60's and the wind was never much of a factor. It was a disjointed, but nevertheless a creative and interesting century.

-Batman