that's the way it goes

After not having ridden on the Event, I was really looking forward to an epic ride for Sunday... but I found a pair of pedals that I had promised to Winter Larry, and he was leading a ride on Sunday, and I had Tom H's cooler from the Event that was to be delivered back to him, and I needed to pick up some wheel tools I had lent to Laura OLPH... so I decided to go on Winter Larry's Back By Lunch ride.

Ten at the start, mostly people I didn't know well; three of them were newbies:

That's Sergei above; I was surprised to see him on a ride that was advertised as slow as this.(Not to worry; he and Klaus, in the red above, beat everybody else to the end.)

Probably because of the number of riders that were new, or new to Larry, he asked me to sweep. We started heading south, down York. Somewhere around East Windsor, Larry's chain broke, and I put in a 9-speed replaceable link I was carrying. My hands were excessively greasy; Larry said I could wipe my hands on his shorts, but I demurred. One of the newbies, Rick, lent me a rag.

Then past Allentown, John had a flat and we stopped.

And shortly after that, one of the riders who had been off the back fell far behind, I noticed him walking the bike. He apparently had a bonk; he was tremulous. Larry came back to see what was up, and we got him together enough to get back on the bike. Then Larry went off to lead the rest of the ride, and I led the rider back to Allentown, and we waited for his ride to pick him up at Bruno's, where proprietor Jimmy Bruno and I settled various international and domestic problems and solved some eternal questions.

It was about forty minutes before I got going again. I started riding north, then decided I didn't want to go straight back, and THEN decided I was going to go in search of the elusive New Roy's Deli, then candidate for the replacement for the benighted Clarksburg Ptomaine Ptower. I turned off on 524, and soon found it:

Wow! It's big enough for a ballroom, with clean, accessible toilets (and a sink that works in the men's room; I didn't check the other one), and staff  that didn't scowl at me. I've gotta see about planning a ride that goes there.

I had hoped to pass the Ptomaine Ptower to get distance, but I didn't realize I'd get to Rising Sun Tavern Road first. I recognized that as a way back to Cranbury, and started back that way. I put "Return to Start" into the Garmin Touring I use (which I've nicknamed "Alan Touring"), and wound up with this route. It's slightly different from one of the usual routes back, but what is life without some discovery?

At the end, I met Sergei and Klaus, who had found their wind and beaten the others back to Cranbury, and I left the rag on Rick's bike rack. Then I was off to do the rest of the daily chores.

When I got home, I tried to fix a creak in a difficult rear wheel. My theory that it was the type of spokes I used did not bear out; it still creaks.after replacing them. Next try: removing each nipple, one at a time, and lubing each spoke contact point. But before that, I want to tune the wheels on The Excellent Wife (TEW)'s new bike (about which I see I still haven't posted anything!).

Edit Aug 4: Removed what appeared to be a spam comment.