in which the sweep is incommunicado

Three bike-related activities in three days: Monday, Memorial Day, was the All-Paces ride. I like these rides, or at least the before-and-after of them. I'm not good at making and keeping friends, and at these rides I get to see people I haven't seen, or don't see frequently. I get to catch up, and re-establish connections that may be stale.

The rides, themselves, can get a bit dicey. The ride groups tend to be large, and riders who are not used to riding together go out, so there can sometimes be some scary times. Except for the "large" part, that did not seem to be a problem on Monday. I went with (I think) 19 others on Bob S's ride. We did this route (that includes my before-and-after extra miles with Laura OLPH. I swept, and helped a rider who was tiring in the returning headwind, and then helped her re-tire when her rear tire appeared tired (not flat, exactly, but there wasn't much air in the tube... and no, I'm not going to apologize for all those puns; I've been riding wiht Neil C too much).

Tuesday night, after work, I went to the New Brunswick Bike Exchange, and got a mountain bike and a very cool Optimus Prime kids bike ready for sale (you need to see that Optimus Prime bike; even the PEDALS are cool!). There's a grand opening, of sorts, for tomorrow, Thursday, and I'm hoping to be able to link to the website and maybe some news stories. (That mountain bike was a pain: just as soon as I figured out how to change the shifter cable, I saw that the shifter was broken anyway, and we'd have to rig another shifter onto it. Grump, grump, grump.)

Today, went out with Al P and the Old Guys. I got to Etra Park early for the ride-to-the-ride, and I was the only one there; Erich apparently had some medical stuff to attend to, and everybody knew it but me (and I didn't know until the fog cleared this morning even whether I was going to try to ride at all). We did this route, more or less*, and I swept again today. One of the older guys got tired and fell back, and we got separated from the group - but they we found each other again, luckily (although Mr. Garmin was already setting us a route back).

Now the incommunicado thing: On the Saturday ride, Bob S tried to call while I was back changing the tire. I was all greasy-handed, and figured it was my wife calling to ask when I would be home, so I figured I'd call her back when I got to the end, but Bob told me when he came back to find us that he was the caller. Today, Al P tried to call, and I had the phone on "buzz" and didn't hear it. There's not much use giving a cell-phone number to a ride leader if you're not going to answer it.

About a year ago, I set up a new mnemonic checklist I use before the start of each ride (I'm a big one for checklists; I also have one for what I pack in the car when I'm leaving for the ride; it's on my bike tote bag). The new checklist (I've updated it since that post) is:

• Air (in the tires)
• Ankle (Road ID on the ankle band)
• Axles (close the quick-releases)
• Bag (because twice I've lost contents out of it because I forgot to zip it up)
• Bottles (Water. Duh.)
• Brakes (especially, close the front brake when I put the front wheel on after travel)
• Car (lock it)
• Computer (turn the bike computer on, and set it)
• Coppertone (sunscreen. I don't use that brand, but it fit the mnemonic.)

I also need to remember to turn the cell phone on, and set the ringer. Any ideas on how I can do that? (Aside from counting on youse-all to ask me if I've done it at the ride start, I mean.)

*Brag: I rode back to Etra from Allentown on my own (about ten miles) and added .7mph to my average in that distance. That was fun!