laura leads a pick-up ride with a late start

Laura OLPH was going to be out last night seeing Waiting for Godot, starring Gandalf and Captain Picard, and she was NOT planning on being up in time for Winter Larry's ride today. Still, she wanted to go out, so early in the week she sent out an email asking about a ride with an 11:00 start. I got a dispensation from The Excellent Wife (TEW) for the late day, and agreed to go (I emailed a question: "Is this still happening?" and got the response, "It is now!").

I got to Laura's early and met Ron S there, who had come up for a use for all the snow, see the first of the pictures below. Laura was still getting breakfast, so, as it was cooler than we expected, Ron and I rode a bit to loosen up. As we did, Sean D drove up and asked ME if the ride was happening, and when he got the assurance it was, drove to Pennington to meet us there for a slightly shorter ride.

When we got there, Ed C was waiting with Sean, so the five of us did this route. We've been spooked by the fire at Peacock's, so Laura thought we should go visit Sun at the Sergeantsville store while that is still there (Sun has been trying to sell, but apparently no takers yet; I think his building is primarily a collection of construction and occupancy violations held together by good will and community need).

The most demanding line was Goat Hill Road; none of us were really in the mood for more challenge than that. We went on roads we've gone many times, and even I, navigationally hopeless as I am, knew where I was much of the time. Despite what I thought was a  prediction of warmer weather, I was cold much of the time... but it was a beautiful day, and we stopped a number of times for pictures (Laura stopped again to get the cows and calves in Mt Airy; when she has a photography retrospective, I suspect her "Mt Airy Cows Series" will remind people of the way Monet painted so many pictures of the cathedral at Rouen.)

On the way back, I had my second pinch flat in two days; I've been hitting those potholes hard. The holes in this tube are slits, not just punctures. My backup tube held air this time, though, and after a brief feud with Ed C over the merits of the Road Morph Pump vs. the speedy CO₂ cartridge, I got the wheel back on. As we were fooling with the wheel, Laura's friend (is her name Linda?) came up, and rode with us for a few miles to Pennington, and then a bit further.

I'm looking forward to more regular rides. I also hope there will be improvements to the road surfaces, but just in case, I'm laying in a fresh supply of tubes.

Pics. The first is Ron's impromptu snow-pile bike stand.

Along the road:

Below: Sean would be a lot of fun if he'd just loosen up a little.

And below, Laura defends herself against the paparazzi. Ah, the trials of celebrity!

I like the next several of these pics of the folks on the bikes:

At Sergeantsville. Ed was taken with the "Bikers Welcome" sign.