labor day all-paces ride

No doubt you'll want to see all the pictures in the album... so for that, you can head over to the club Photos and Albums web page.

But the day and rides probably merit some commemoration other than just the photos. For example, The Excellent Wife (TEW) was agonizing over whether or not to go today. On the one side, there were varying, but generally pretty frightening, threats of thunderstorms. On the other, she knows that on days with All-Paces rides, I list a ride at a pace she can ride, so we get a chance to ride together. What to do?

She really hates to ride in the rain, so she finally decided not to go. and it worked out well, because then I didn't have to worry about her having a miserable time if the rain did come.

So I got down to Mercer Park for the start... and I was surprised, both by the large number of people there, and by the numbers that signed up for my ride! I had eleven, which is more than I get on my regular rides. Some of them have become "all-paces regulars", whom I see whenever I do an all-paces ride (like Judy F, Joe C, Lesley S); others were new to me.

I do the same route for all the rides from Mercer Park; I figured if the rains came early, we could just turn around and go back; if they came late, we could cut out a couple miles. But we didn't have to turn back; while we got spread out (this is a group that doesn't ride together), we got to Roy's for the break without incident, meeting, oh, pretty much every other Freewheeler group that had gone out. (The clerk lady at Roy's expressed her gratitude at our business - but after yesterday's fiasco, I expressed my gratitude that she was open!)

It was while we were at Roy's that the rain started.

Some of my group went on ahead while the others collected, and other groups went out. As we rolled out, we saw Mike V's B-pace group rolling in. Some of them elected to head straight back, and suddenly, there was Laura OLPH riding beside me,suggesting that we look for a one-way bridge that was closed that we could cross, a reference to something she said on yesterday's ride.

Even this smaller group got split up, and some of the more-experienced riders rode in each group. I made sure that each group made all the turns (this was a Plain Jim ride; it's not like there were a LOT of turns - I'm geographically-challenged, don't you know).

As we were rolling the last little bit, and the rain let up some, Mini B, who was with me, said, "Jim, I have to tell you something about this ride..."

The pause that followed got longer and longer. "What?", I finally asked, with trepidation for what was to follow.

Mini said, "This is the best ride ever! I LOVE riding in the rain!"

That was NOT what I'd been expecting... but I'm glad to have it.