colder than we thought slugs ride

I THOUGHT it was going to be warmer than it was when I left the house this morning, or when I got to Laura's for the ride start, or when we got to Pennington for the official ride start, or at any of dozens of other times  today. But it wasn't; it was cold.

Laura admonished us to bundle up in her ride announcement, and we're glad we did. Although the thermometer in my patio said above freezing at the time I left, and although few of the puddles I saw at the roadside were frozen, we felt colder today than I remember being on days where the mercury was lower. Marco and I left with Laura from her house for the extra miles, and when we got to the Pennington Admin building, the only other person waiting was Barry... but Peter, and then Celeste rode in, so we were six.

Laura remembered that the staff at the Bagel Bistro in Hillsborough always wear shorts, so she thought that might be the warmest stop we could make. So up we went, on this route (that, of course, includes our extra miles before and after). After the ups, of course, come the downs, and they were bitterly cold... so at the stop, Laura decided to opt for the flattest route back. We came back via East Mountain, 601, and 518, which, to me, are the bicycle equivalent of trucker's roads - direct, efficient, but not the most scenic. But on the ride back, I don't think any of us were looking for scenic; I don't remember any complaints about the route except for the number of cars.

A few miles from Pennington, Laure had a flat, ad we had the worst luck fixing it: first her tire-to-rim fit is tight, then she inadvertently removed the valve stem with the CO₂ inflator, then we couldn't remove the stem from the inflator (it might have been frozen in). After some monkeying around with things, we got the tire up again.  (I'm no fan of Specialized Bicycles generally - I don't like the way they monopolize their local stores - but the Specialized CPRO₂ Trigger just works.)

So her tube is on my workbench, and there's a spent CO2 in my bike bag. And we I can stand to face the cold in the garage again, I'll repair the tube and clean out the bag.

Pics. Setting up at Laura's:

At Pennington:

At Bagel Bistro:

Below: Christmas bagels. I don't know... they don't look appetizing to me...

Below, Peter hates paparazzi. 

Below, Laura made me delete the picture where she's stuffin' muffin into her mouth, so I got this one instead: