spring fling

Today was the Princeton Freewheelers' "Spring Fling", the annual April all-paces ride and lunch where they distribute jerseys to last year's leaders of over ten rides and make other announcements. It leaves from (and the lunch is served at) the Princeton Masonic Lodge, which is one of the few ride starts to which I can ride from my house, so I did. It was a bit cold this morning, and I knew it would warm up (some) later, so I was a bit cold when I left, and a bit warm when I got back.

If you check out the route, you'll see that there's a two-loops to the southwest of the start/end. I started and ended near my house, and rode down the the lodge (there's a little jiggit about halfway down river road where the lodge is; the other one, a bit northwest of there, was where I pulled into a driveway to put my mirror back and adjust my headgear). I went in the expectation that Ira S, a popular ride leader, would have a huge group, and I would sweep for him, but his group of fourteen was smaller than I expected - whether the cold temps kept people away, or people were put off by his short course, I don't know. Although pretty (we went by some very classy real estate - more places I won't be able to retire), the course was short; only 20 miles; some of us added an extra four by going around the block for some more miles (that's the narrow rectangular bit to the east of the main loop). I waited at he top of a hill for some riders, and one got ahead; I tried to catch him, but got stuck behind some traffic and couldn't. The traffic is my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Early on, one of the riders with whom I'm not acquainted had a flat. How many Freewheelers does it take to change a tube? Well, how many do you have? Of course, the more of us there are, the more opinions and suggestions there are - which don't actually speed up the process. The tire in question was exceptionally tight, so I'm glad I didn't have to actually change it. I don't claim any particular expertise in that process, so I stayed back and waved the traffic by .

Ira was also responsible for the lunch (which may be why he made his ride short). We were first back, and some of us tried to be polite, but politeness gave way to hunger, and we got into the meatball sandwiches and the desserts before the rest of the food arrived, or before the other riders got back. I did not hear complaints about lack of food, so perhaps we were kind enough to the comparative latecomers.

There was a woman from BikingThings.com who was there selling print overruns and overstocks cheap - $5 for jerseys. Most of them were in Dumbo sizes, but I got one in medium, which I have given to The Excellent Wife (TEW); she'll need one (more later). I also got a pulls-down-low-over-your-eyes cycling cap, which I put on under my helmet, and then had to adjust on the way home... because the bill is SO low, I couldn't see ahead! And I'm too d-mn old to give up visibility for style.

The Excellent Wife will need the jersey, doncha see, because she's actually going to try to come out on some rides. In this month's ride list, there's a beginner ride scheduled, to be led by an instructor for the League of American Bicyclists. I talked to him about bringing her, and he said "No couples"... and he's right. TEW can learn stuff better from almost anybody than from me; between my teaching style, and all the other water that's gone under the dam with us, me-the-teacher-and-she-the-student is just not a reliable recipe for success. She should do this thing herself. I hope she will.

Tomorrow I take the team on the Tour de Franklin. The team may be getting bigger; a few riders today asked about it. We almost had a mutiny over the early start... we'll see how things go. In the meantime, as I write this, the bike laundry is in the dryer, the non-laundry bike stuff is laid out for putting in the car, and TEW and I are eying the local Five Guys like wolves circling the wounded moose.