We left with sixteen, with varying abilities for near-A-level to kind-of-C+-level. Although we were good about getting back together at intersections and turns,we were spread out, on more than one occasion, over more than a mile. I swept, and, thinking that I had the GPS with me, and that I'd always be able to at least see the main group, I didn't carry a cue sheet. Do you see where this is leading?
Before the rest stop, I was back with one of the slow riders, and lost sight of the group. I knew we were coming to the rest stop, but didn't know where it was... and we blew right past it, and went on for a couple of miles before we figured out our error and went back. As we went back, I saw our group leaving the rest stop and proceeding on. I went back to the stop, and after a quick refresh (ahem), decided I'd try to catch up with the group. I was angry.
But he GPS kept losing the route, and I couldn't keep track of the road markings. I went back and forth (I got lost four times near one turn) and finally picked up the arrows again, and pedaled like crazy to try and catch up to the group ahead of me. My average before the break was about 14.8, and by the end of the main ride was 16.4.
An odd thing happened to the anger as I was proceeding alone on the route. I realized i couldn't be angry at the planners, or the rest of the group, or anybody else but myself. It was my responsibility to carry a cue sheet, or to keep up with my group (which I could have easily done if I hadn't fallen back with the straggler). Even now, hours later, I'm surprised at this. Who IS this guy? What has happened to me? I was eager to explain this to the other riders on my team when I got to the end.
Except the main group wasn't ahead of me. Evidently, when I was lost, I cut off part of the route where they were, and I got into the stop ahead of them. There's a picture below of Chris C threatening to ride into me as I was aiming the camera at him. Laura thinks that I cut off part of the route when I was lost, and went around the main group. She'll look at my route (that's on RideWithGps, the Garmin site is not responding as I write this, and the route includes our rides to and from the start), and. I hope, point out the error of my ways (and how apropos is that idiom in this context!).
Some pictures below. I only got three in the morning before the cold affected the batteries.
John & Jane Danek:
The rest are from after the ride, when the batteries had warmed up:
Here's Chris threatening to make roadkill of me:
Laura and the Wottons think I found a wormhole:
Mighty Mike!
Two Rons:
My favorite part of this picture is that nobody who's in it will like it very much.
OK, so what you did was miss the turn on Province Line, at your mile 45, onto Larrison.
ReplyDeleteWere we went from Larrison to Streeker to 528, Paulson, and 664 before turning onto Hornerstown-Arneytown (your double-back at miles 46-47), you went straight up Province Line. That's a handful of miles right there (almost 6).
From there you got it right, even navigating the construction barrels that blocked the turn onto Bordentown-Crosswicks.
More on that later, when I get to that part of my blog. I'm out the door to an outdoor dinner now, having loggorheically gotten only to the end of the Guru Fit over at Hill Slug Chronicles. I hope to finish tonight.
I am a seasoned rider by no means, only having been riding any distance over 10 miles since late April. I bought a road bike a few weeks ago and moved up from a struggling C to pretty much a C+. No biggie, right? So I went out on the McBride 25 mile and went out quick ahead of a pack of around eight riders. About three tenths or so, I slowed down waiting for the group. I was passed by about six riders and saw a couple of riders in back. Little did I realize that I was just passed by the faster riders in the group, and the remaining riders were on a hybrid and a mountain bike and a "C" rider with baggage. Anyway, I was chomping at the bit to get top speed, but felt it was better to hang as a group. Almost got lost, but had a good ride anyway. C'est l'vie! Thank you John Danek for helping a newbie sort things out
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