cheryl leads the boys from the hood pickup ride

Dave C, Joe M, Shawn R, and Rich B all live within spittin' distance of one another (they might all be in the same development, I don't know). Dave's invited me to join them on a couple of rides recently, and this week, I planned to go with 'em out of their neighborhood - but then I got a text from Dave that Cheryl was leading a "pickup" ride (one without formal notice) from her place; would I like to go?  I would, and did; I've done a ride with Cheryl from her place recently, so I was reasonably sure that she wouldn't object to my tagging along. Indeed she did not; she said she just hadn't thought to add me to her email "A-list" of riders she invites, and said she would remedy what she saw as an oversight. I'm flattered.

Eight of us all told: in addition to the four "Boys", Cheryl, and me, Ron S and Mike M came along. We met at 10 at her house, in hopes that the temperature would come out of the basement (and it did; it was a balmy 43° when we departed, and soared up to 48° by the time we got back). Raw, grey skies, and the thinnest wetness on the roads, but no rain or drizzle. Here's the route. It felt like we were going to Sergeantsville, but we came down to Lambertville from the northeast, then up Quarry Road to 601 back to Pennington and then to Cheryl's. Enough hills to make it a workout, but a leisurely pace.

I got to talking to Shawn, who's about to be a father; his first is due in April (and everybody's healthy so far, I hear). His wife works for Planned Parenthood, and he for Public Radio WHYY, so their house is, if anything, even more lefty-political than mine. He was complaining about how the proprietor of his bike shop treats him like the naughty teenager all the time. We agreed it's probably time to look for a new shop -- after all, it's not like he's getting great prices there, to take that kind of treatment!

Spoke to Rich, too, who rides a bike to work (evidently), but who is mostly notable to me for his choice of clothing - he wore a single jacket over a short-sleeve jersey (as opposed, for example, to my three-layers-of-thermals-with-a-jersey-on-top, and I also had a jacket over that for part of the way). I remembered when he rode the Tour de Franklin in April, he did it in shorts when most of the rest of us had tights and more than one layer.

With this ride, I've met a minor goal; I've ridden in every month in 2012. Dave C has me beat; he's ridden every WEEK! Not long distances always, but the consistency is admirable.

No group ride planned for tomorrow; the group I used to sing with has a concert this weekend, and The Excellent Wife (TEW) and I are going to usher tomorrow; I'd never get back from a group ride in time to get cleaned up, changed, and out. But there might be an early-morning quick one... because the Freewheelers Holiday Party is tonight, and I might need to burn off a few extra calories. Hrmph.