Yeah well...
The Velominati rules (as I write this, the page barely opens) include Rule 5, "Harden the F--- Up", and Rule 9, "If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period." In the case of Rule 9, I've decided "bad weather" includes weather is which a sudden wind gust might drive you into the path of the oncoming garbage truck. So riding today definitely applies.
In the case of Rule 5, I'm adding Plain Jim's corollary: "Complaining and profanity do not lessen the efficacy of exercises that will result in improved meditations on Rule 5." The original language of the corollary used a different word in the place of "complaining". It starts with a "B". Use your imagination.
Laura OLPH is, of course, Our Lady of Perpetual Headwinds, so OF COURSE we were gonna do a ride in all this. She picked a route that would have us riding mostly into the wind on the way out, so that we could rely on tailwinds on the way back. Smart woman.
We met at The Pig (see this post for why Sourland Coffee will always be The Pig for me). The only other at that start was David S; Laura and Ricky G rolled in from Laura's house (I didn't do the extra miles; I didn't want to have to call an Uber if I couldn't make it all the way back!).
(I just love Ricky's purple ride.)
We rolled out on a familiar route, and stopped to see an eagle's nest in Pennington. No denizens were in evidence... but come on! An eagle's nest! In Pennington! Good heavens!
... and then took off into the Sourlands to find some hills and fight the wind.
We got to the top of Mt Airy, where we usually stop to see the cows, but none were in evidence today.
Laura made a reference to being "bereft of bovinity", for which she wins the internet for the day. Then on to Alexsauken Creek Road, or as I like to call it, fifteen minutes of vacation; it's that pretty*.
(*Other riders point out that their times on Alexsauken Creek Road are much faster than mine and put my performance there to shame. I do not dispute this, except that I point out that if one is blazing through Alexsauken Creek Road, one is missing one of the gifts of the universe. Perhaps some are too familiar with its charms, and suffer from the neglect that the proverbial familiarity breeds. But I digress**.)
(**I digress. Now THERE's a surprise.)
And over to Rojo's Coffee in Lambertville, where there were a number of other bikers. What kind of a person takes a bike out on a windy-ass day like this?
A familiar face! She's been in South America and Ireland. I feel so provincial.
And back. We chose routes with few hills and mostly tailwinds, and although my average was slow, I'm not crippled. I'm looking forward to wrenching at the Tour de Franklin tomorrow. Come on out and get a free tune-up if you sign up to ride.
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