raw day ride

We inadvertently blew off Winter Larry last Sunday; we thought he wouldn't go, but he did. Laura OLPH and I decided to go on his ride today, partly out of a sense of redress, and partly because we'd both been out with our families and were a bit the worse for wear, so a not-too-demanding ride seemed just the ticket.

Well, that was the plan, but the weather was raw (it felt much colder than the mid-40º's weather), and the winds were strong and unpredictable; we had unexpected stiff headwinds early in the ride, and an unexpected tailwind along the last stretch into Cranbury where we never get a tailwind. We did this route. Nine of us went: in addition to Winter Larry, Laura, and me, we had Dave H, Barry Y, Peter F, Sean, Jack H, and Fabio, who's not a club member, but who (I understand) drags along on rides a few times a year. Fabio got called away before the 17 mile mark, so we finished with eight.

Larry said he picked the route because he wanted to do Diamond Road, and he had the goal of getting down and back in 40 miles, which he very nearly hit. We stopped at the Wawa near the Jackson outlet mall; just before we stopped, there was a terrifying crossing-and-left-turn onto 537 (if I'd had my brains on, I would have been chanting the paternoster or something, but I'm off my game recently). The Wawa has the excellent apple fritters (an appalling example of pornographic food, appealing solely to the prurient interest and without redeeming social value). I had one, of course, and I'll need to work it off over the coming weeks.

Then back, on the straightest route possible. I thanked Larry for not stopping at the Clarksburg store when we passed it. We split into a fast and a slow group at the end (how often does that happen on Cranbury rides?), but everybody got back, and I resisted the urge to sing something about "Macho Mile" to the tune of the Village People's "Macho Man".

Pics: At the start:

At the stop: