surprise crowd

I had only two takers on the last ride I listed (that wasn't an all-paces ride) and only one on the ride before that. But when it's this late in the season, and the Saturday rides are mostly rained out, and there are only six rides listed anyway for the day...

... well, when those factors and perhaps others come into play, things change; I had nine to start at Blackwells Mills. A number of them were The Usual Suspects: some of Laura OLPH's Hill Slugs (we share members with Tom H's Insane Bike Posse):Andrew A, Ricky G, Tom H, Laura, Chris D, and Peter G. Marty G, whom I've met on the Team Social Security rides, and Mindy B, who volunteered with The Excellent Wife (TEW) and I at a couple of events, and Mini B, with whom I rode early in the year.

I was so flabbergasted by the turnout that I didn't get pictures at the start, and instead threatened everybody's safety be getting these while riding:

That's Marty above. Do you think he needs to loosen up a little?

This crowd has a range of abilities, so when I called for sprints on Hillsborough Road, we got all spread out. But for some, this ride was a bit of a stretch from their usual pace, and I (gratefully) hung back with 'em, until we got to those annoying hills on Homestead Road. (I started a RideWithGPS segment on Homestead Road for no other reason than because I could call the segment "I hate Homestead Road". I'm sixth out of 25 who have ridden it as I write this. One of the advantages of riding on roads nobody else likes to ride on is that you seem faster than you really are.)

We bobbled through Hillsborough, and got to East Mountain Ave, where I allowed for another sprint. At the other end, I graciously allowed the folks who had rolled in last to catch their breath. I was, of course, one of the breath-catchers.

Peter G rolled out after that, and the rest of us went to the stop at the bagel place in the Princeton North shopping center.

Bike pics? Of course!

At that point, Andrew went for home, and Mindy and Mini took the short way back; I led the others on a longer way -- but then Laura, Ricky, and Tom rolled off on THEIR own way. So I got Marty and Chris back to the start.

The Ride Page includes my rides to and from home; the ride itself was about 35 miles. 

Marty mentioned the blog, and I wanted to be sure he made it, so we got this picture:

So stiff and inhibited!

Now, Chris C and I have this thing about our hubs; we use pipe cleaners on 'em to keep 'em clean. In this pic, I think you can see the dirt that the pipe cleaner has cleaned off the hub:

See all that black mung in the pipe cleaner? Not only does this make us faster, but we'll probably get an extra few thousand miles out of the wheels this way, don't you think?

Naaah, I don't think so either. But I like the pipe cleaners on the hubs.