100 miles

Rode a century, a 100-mile ride, with the Princeton Freewheelers yesterday. The leader had made it clear that he was going to maintain a pace of no more than 15 mph, and he went better than that; my final pace was about 14.4. This leader has a reputation for losing the people who ride ahead, so I kept him either in front or in my mirror the entire time (as my riding partner did not, and a group of four - of whom he was one - got separated, but with the help of smartphones and online mapping, we got back together again). Thirteen people started the ride; one who knew the route went ahead and met us on the way; two who had ridden to the start location peeled off and rode home as we got close to their places. The rest all made it back to our cars.

With that pace (much slower than my usual), I made a joke about going out dancing last night, but I almost could have done; I was not as beat at the end of that has I have been on 60-65 mile rides at a faster pace. I went out this morning and cranked out 20 miles. With no breakfast or coffee on board, my speed was way down (in the 17.5 mph range, rather than the almost-a-mile-per-hour faster I can usually manage), but the fact that I could turn in another 20 miles today shows how sensible the slower pace yesterday was.

A number of issues: one rider had a flat; one had trouble with headwinds. A rider let his attention wander, and ran into another while we were waiting for a light. They both went down, and while one was not hurt, the rider who ran into him showed some pain (we had to take his shoe off to get him out of the clip-in pedal), and a third rider got a wheel way out of true after the incident; he was able to ride home, but seemed distressed either about the incident, of the damage to his bike (of which he obviously takes great care), or both.

Now, there's that. I've been thinking back on some other rides: there was one in Monmouth County where the leader bonked in the heat, and another where we were attacked by an enraged driver. First, bicycling is not as innocuous a pastime as one might think; while nowhere near as dangerous as motorcycling, it is not without its threats. Second, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm a jinx. (But I'm probably not unique or important enough to qualify!)

A bit of trouble shifting now: it's hard to get the chain onto the big gear, and the chain drops from the middle chainring to the smaller when it's on the biggest cog in the back. The front derailleur has gotten hard to adjust, partly because I've used the limit screws so much (what with switching the parts from one frame to the other and back, and back again) that the screws are looking like shrapnel. And I can't find a replacement triple front derailleur for a nine-gear cogset online; they've all gone to ten-gear. I've been looking with the eye of avarice at the SRAM Rival group, and this may be my excuse to upgrade. My fantasy is that with ten gears in the back, and two gears up front, I'll be in a better position if I need to buy parts in the future... but, of course, recent events with my NINE-gear setup may suggest otherwise.

I've gotten to love the bike, the way I once did my motorcycle. And, of course, part of loving the motorcycle was the online community of which I was a part (I may have liked this more than actually riding the bike!). I'm sure that part of loving the bicycle is the people I'm getting to know, as well. More about them, I'm also sure, in future posts.