what stop sign?

First, let's get this out of the way right now. I was wrong, and Laura OLPH was right. I've been saying that weight of a bike isn't important for the kind of recreational riding I do, and also complaining that my speed and endurance is down.

As I noted yesterday, the Krakow Monster (which I've mostly been riding all winter) weighs well over 30 lbs. Today I took out the Yellow Maserati, the titanium bike, which weighs about two-thirds the weight of the Monster. And I could ride faster and longer on the Il Maserati Giallo than I thought possible. So ten lbs. of weight does make a difference. (I'm still not sure that TWO pounds of weight would make a difference, but ten certainly did.)

The occasion for the apology above was Winter Larry's "Back by Lunch" Sunday ride out of Cranbury. Nine of us started on the ride: besides the two of us, were John, Jeff and Steve, Carl and Mike (more-or-less regulars with the three-times-a-week Team Social Security guys), Pete F, and Laura.

We did this route, and had a bit of ongoing silliness: on Ellisdale, Larry told us we could ride at our own speed and gather at the stop sign... but at the other end, there wasn't a stop sign. He told us a couple of other times to meet at stop signs that turned out to be nonexistent, which led to talk of philosophy of stop signs, possible paranormal stop sign activity, and stop signs in parallel universes. (We're Princeton Freewheelers; you know how we get.)

We did a stop at a Dunkin' Donuts in Hornerstown.

The young fellow in the center of the picture above was selling candy for his youth group (his mom was at a corner table with more supplies, should they be needed). He was so earnest that I threw a couple bucks at him even though I couldn't carry the candy. (Yeah, I'm a soft touch and an idiot, but at least he's not supporting Trump or something.) Also on the break, Laura was complaining about the time she's needed to put in as new newsletter editor. I, for one, am hoping for online everything soon.

On the way back, Carl peeled off looking for a shorter way home (as John had done before the break), and we proceeded on our route, looking for more missing stop signs. As we came up to Route 130, we came up behind Carl at the light; he'd hit an uphill with a headwind on York, which threw askew his plans of an early ride end.

When we got to the lot, we had discussions about non-riding physical exercises, on which I expounded, just as if there were anything I actually knew!

So now I'm back home, running the laundry and doing my blog post. Hope you're well. I'm looking forward to getting back to my routine this week.