tour de franklin ride report

Today was the Tour de Franklin, one of the fundraising events for the Franklin Food Bank. They offer several routes, including four road routes of lengths from 10-62 miles, and rides on the canal tow path of many lengths, with SAG support and lunch afterwards. I collected a team of eight via email, but others decided to come, and when we departed this morning, we had seventeen, of whom I can remember these: besides me, John & Jane D, Gary & Donna W, Dave C and Little Joe from Pennsylvania, Dave H, May L, Lynne W, Jack H, Laura OLPH, Gary S, Ron S, The Other Marc, and Sal F, with whom I had not ridden before, but who found me through an old blog post and who is strong. With that many riders, we got a bit of a late start... but it's not a race, and I think we had a good time.

Another issue with that many riders is the variety of abilities. But despite the fact that I'm sure we were spread out over more than a mile at one point, we all met up at several points during the ride, and we all wound up finishing together (more or less).

The route (that's a link) is, as far as I can see, almost entirely within the Township of Franklin. The first part leads down to that long, appendix-like mapping to the south of the route; we left the start at the Municipal Building, and went down to the Main St Café in Kingston, near which was the first rest stop. Ron had a "mechanical" with his chain there, and several of our number shed layers and left them at John & Jane's house, which is remarkably close. From there, after a pause (getting seventeen Freewheelers organized takes a bit of doing), back up and across the Griggstown Causeway, where Ron S got a cut in his tire that needed to be booted (c'mon, Ron - give someone else a chance!). From there, we went back mostly without mishap except for having to wait for stragglers.

(A couple of times John D and I got on the front. We're a good match: about the same pace and ability, I think, and we don't get too competitive... but we can't do that for too long, or the pace creeps up. And up.)

I'm most grateful for the folks who came along: about the only way a person like me, who gets lost if the wind shifts, can lead a ride this long is by going on a ride like this one. I had a great time (it was a glorious day), as, I think, did the others.

(That said, I remind folks about my "D" ride on May 19 - I'll guarantee it's the lowest-pressure ride in the schedule. Got somebody who's thinking of testing the waters on a group ride? Send 'em along! Or bring 'em... I guarantee you'll be able to keep up.)