abbreviated covered bridges ride

Yesterday, I was worrying about the weather for today's Covered Bridges ride. When I looked this morning, the NOAA weather site for the ride start location showed rain starting probably at 2pm, and the rumors at the gathering went anywhere from 11:30 am to 4pm. They were all wrong.

I had planned to ride with the Boys From the Hood, the Pennsylvanians Dave C, Joe M, Mike C and Shawn, and Bob, a rider from south Jersey whom I had not met previously. After deliberation about the prospects of the weather, and some whining about how we'd hate to give it up for a shorter ride if it turned out to be a nice day, we reluctantly agreed to do the was-gonna-be-33-miles-but-was raised-to-36-at-the-last-minute-because-of-road-conditions route. So off we went.

This being Bucks County, Pa, there were hills which started right away. We quickly broke into two primary groups: the young guns, Shawn and Mike, and the older guys; I spent time in both groups. Fall must have started earlier there than it did in Burlington County, because the colors had definitely started (although they are far from full). I remember Shawn as the guy who couldn't manage his bottle last January. He's now a rider to contend with. I tried to show him and Mike that I was faster on the hills than they, but I don't think I did; they're both strong and fast! And Dave, who was recovering from Legionnaire's Disease last year, whipped me on a hill, and was out front for a good part of this ride.

Here's the route. We had two stops along the route, and all three of the bridges on that short route were after the second. As was my experience last year, the Central Bucks club (the host of the ride) made us most welcome at the ride start and the stops, and stopped cross traffic on the busiest roads to let riders across (a real help on this hilly ride). And the t-shirt, of course, is the best one of the season.

The rain started shortly after we left the latter rest stop.  It was light but steady, and we proceeded gingerly on some of the downhills (which would have been spiffy screamers if the roads had been dry!). Although I wasn't really dressed for it (I had three layers on top, but only shorts), we were working hard enough that I was warm enough to finish (we did avoid the dirt path back to the start, figuring that it would be a morass of mud from the narrow tires riding through it). We stopped for lunch, and that was when I really got cold; I didn't warm up again until I got home ant took a long, hot shower.

To me, the unofficial "season" goes from the Tour de Franklin in late April/early May to this ride. While I still intend to ride on any day that the weather and my schedule permit, I think of rides between now and next spring as out-of-season "extras", almost as if I'm getting away with something. (And I'll be looking for a team to ride the Tour de Franklin in the spring, are you interested? Watch this space!)