ride of attrition

I do two listings for most of my rides: one on the Princeton Freewheelers calendar, and one on this blog. The listing on this blog included the following:

I want to go back to the Pig at a time when they ought to be open!...I won't be able to do the ride the following week, and the 29th will be planned for a C+ ride. So come on out. (Except you real fast folks; you can go off the front, and the rest of us will carry on at a pace.)

Well, it sounded like a good enough idea that eight other folks came out. Mindy B and Dave H were waiting when I got there...

And Andrew A came in...

as well as Peter F and Peter G, Luis C, Bob N, and John W.

Now I tried - I really tried - to keep the pace, but some of these guys were goin', so we got a bit faster than I intended. But I didn't hear too many complaints. But more on that later.

We bobbled through Hillsborough and down to Montgomery where the bridge was out.

Peter G was sure we could have gotten through (and we probably could have), but I had plotted a route through the Arboretum and the park, and I wasn't going to waste it. (Cutting through the park also cuts out an annoying little hill on Harlingen, that apparently nobody complains about but me... but it was my ride, so there.)

 I like that one of John. But when we got to 518, he evidently cut off. I hope it was nothing I said or did.

It was the first of many.

As we were going to 518, we came up on Andy C, The Original Jeff L, and some others. They got mixed in our ride for a while. I tried to get some pictures, and dropped the camera. The camera survived... but there my group went, over the horizon. (I'd posted the route; I'm not surprised they went.)

A group of young fastboys passed me up, and I took advantage of their pull for half a mile or so... and when I got to Hopewell, Andy, Bob, and Mindy (and maybe someone else?) were waiting. So we proceeded to make the turn at Tyburn...

... and met up  with the rest of the ride, who were all waiting. So we went together into Pennington to the Pig. (It's "The Pig", because originally I couldn't remember the name of Sourland Coffee, and there were pigs on the walls, the hats, and the t-shirts. So for me, it will forever be The Pig.)

You might remember it was closed on Labor Day Weekend when we went. It was open today. (Oh, thank heavens. Even though Stylish Barista Woman wasn't there, there were a couple of younger women competently staffing the stations. I do not like to think of a future bereft of The Pig.)

Peter G, who had ridden in from home, left wen we got to Pennington. As we proceeded back through Princeton, off went Luis and Andrew... and them Mindy left at Suydam. So I got back to the parking lot with Dave H, Peter F, and Bob N. Four of us, out of the nine that started.

Oh well. The Donner Party had it worse.

Ride page. It includes my ride home; my ride in from home is elsewhere. You don't really care about that part, do you?