Saturday, August 6, 2011

volunteering for the event, and quick ride

Today was the Princeton Freewheelers Event (can you believe they don't have a specific event page?), with rides of 16, 25, 50, 100, and two metric century rides (100 km or 62+ miles), one hilly and one flat. There are regularly over a thousand riders who come out for this ride, some of whom ride little during the rest of the year. All that density and inexperience sounded like a magnet for accidents and mishaps, of which there have already been too many this year. Also, I get a lot out of being in the club, so, overall, today sounded like a good day to sit out and volunteer at one of the rest stops.

(Back when I was in early recovery, I remember the other alcoholics in recovery referring to New Year's Eve and St Patrick's Day as "amateur night", when all the "amateurs" go out and try to prove they can drink. I was reminded of that today; the Event is when the amateurs try to prove they can ride... although there were a LOT of very good riders out today, too!)

It turned out that the stop to which I was assigned was the first on the 50, 100, and both 62-mile rides. That meant that, with a 7:00 start time, we could expect the first riders not much later than 8:00, and, sure enough, they were rolling in before 8:15. I found a place cutting bagels for the riders; some asked if the bagels were pre-peanut-buttered (not cream cheese, but PBJ's on the bagels for this crowd). I said the bagels were naked, and that became the by-word for the stop: "Welcome to Millstone, home of the naked bagel." We also had bananas, watermelon, water and Gatorade, Granola bars, snarky remarks, and directions. Pete Garnich of Knapp's Cyclery had a maintenance stop set up in the parking lot, as well.

Hundreds of people came through, some of whom had been on the Anchor House Ride, and others whom I've ridden with (some many times). Since I was not wearing my helmet and wraparound shades, many didn't recognize me until I opened my mouth and that distinctive Long Island accent came out.

But since we were the first stop on the longer rides, we were cleared out early. By 11:30 we had only a couple of riders coming through, one of whom is a distinctive character among the Freewheelers (instead of riding one of the routes, he was going from stop to stop, comparing, inspecting, and evaluating), and others were long riders from, for example, New York City. (One poor guy seemed a bit lost, and was trying to figure if he could get back to the start point in time to get a sandwich.)

By 12:30, we were cleaned up. The stop captain agreed to stay until 1pm, which was when we were told we could leave the stop alone; I left before that (with her blessing). And since tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, I decided to get a quick ride in.

I've written before about riding from my house to the canal, to go up Coppermine Road, and return. It's a 20-mile loop, as near as makes no difference, and I've done it several times this season. As best I can determine, the hilly part goes up almost 300 feet in about .8 mile.

Today I did it with an average speed on 19.1 before the cool-down lap around my condo road, and 18.9 including the cool-down lap. For me, that's wicked fast.

I'm now sitting home, basking in the self-righteous smugness I always enjoy after volunteering, and the satisfaction of riding fast today. My excellent wife is home after spending last night over her mom's house, learning to make pierogi (filling, dough, and all; think Polish ravioli, but not, of course, in tomato sauce, and usually fried rather than boiled); they worked her limp making dozen upon dozen pierogi, so we're gonna go out and help the economy by buying some ready-made food later, rather than making her cook any more today.

Life is good.

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