ride with team social security

Four days a week, I work 6:30am-2:30pm, which suits me just fine, although I know some others who would have some trouble with such an early schedule. Wednesdays, I work 10-6, which is just an ordeal for me; that 5:30-6:00 half hour is the longest 30 minutes in the week.

So every time I have to take a day off, I try to do it on the Wednesday, for that reason, and for the reason that the Team Social Security guys leave from Allentown on Wednesdays. This means that if I get up early enough (not usually a problem; cf. the first sentence of this post), I can drive to Etra Park, get ten miles in riding down to Allentown, do the ride with the old guys, and do ten more miles back up to Etra and the car. Often enough, I stop in at Bruno's Bikes for chat and to throw a few bucks at one of the nicest bike shop owners in Central Jersey.

I'm scheduled to work Saturday, so I took today, drove to Etra this morning, and rode the roundabout way down to Etra, crossing the Turnpike twice and inspecting the berm in front of the Amazon warehouse. I got to Etra to see a few folks I know and a few I didn't.

Al P, above, came out with the C+ ride for a few miles, but he wasn't leading; Bill B was taking that responsibility. And Eddie and John P., above, were taking a tandem on the C-paced ride. Below you can see Eddie and Al assist as John puts his heart in his back pocket.

Below, Chris frequently tries to get me to post in this blog pictures he takes of me; I almost-as-frequently resist.

I think I'm resisting this time.

The route page shows my ride down to Allentown from Etra (I avoid 539 in the traffic), then the ride down to the Pemberton Wawa. Just before the Wawa, one of our number had a flat.

On the way down, we had a tailwind, and on the way back we didn't. We got a bit separated, and as those of us in the slow group came around a corner near the park, we came upon one of the fast group who'd gashed a tire. Chris lent him one from his seatbag. (Chris carries an extra tire in his seatbag?)

Barry made a joke about this being a flat ride. We let him live.

I went back up to Etra into the headwind, straight up 539 (luckily, the traffic had passed; while I could have done the longer ride, I'm glad I didn't have to). Almost 60 miles. With working Saturday and a likely family commitment on Sunday, I'm glad I got this in. (On the other hand, a lecture commitment for next Wednesday may be falling apart, so I may be out with these folks again next week. Watch this space!)