dumb idea for a windy day

When the winds were predicted to be over 20mph, Eddie L & Tru T cancelled their planned ride. But, ever intrepid (although perhaps a bit of discretion might have been fed by better sense), I kept my 46-mile ride on for today, and Peter G and Ricky G came out to go along.

One of my favorite ride stops is The Pig (Sourland Coffee) in Pennington. I haven't been in months, and there's a particular staffer there whom I go to see. She doesn't always work (she wasn't, in fact, working today), but when she's there, she treats us like folks, and I'm a sucker for that. I don't know her name, and I'd like to keep it that way, because this way her identity for me is the Stylish Barista Woman, about which there is a pleasant air of mystery.

So I like to go to The Pig. I planned a ride there for today, and I wasn't gonna pass just for a bit of wind. There were a few that expressed some interest, but only Peter and Ricky actually came out. (They ran my legs off; as you'll see on the ride page, we went at a pretty good clip, for a hilly ride on a windy day.)

The ride was not without incident. While there were no injuries, no flats, and no major mechanical issues, Ricky and Peter noticed some goings-on in the park at Hollow Road as we turned off Skillman.

Wait, what?

Your eyes do not deceive you.That's a group of about a dozen people, in the creek by the park, on a day with winds above 20mph and the mercury not heading north of about 40°F. They did not rush in and rush out, as the Polar Bear swimmers of New Year's Day do, either, they stayed in the water for minutes. We left before they emerged.

Is this a social group? A religious practice? Preparation for nuclear winter? Ricky, Peter and I had speculations, but no answers. Neither did Bob W and Phyllis, who we bumped into at the park at that time.

We got to The Pig and had coffee and junk... and I noticed something:

What's that on the ram's horns?

Good heavens, it's none other than the reindeer antlers that Laura OLPH left up there last year! We know they were gone after last Christmas season... but there they are back again!

Of such tomfoolery are holiday traditions made.

We DID have a tailwind most of the way back, but I can't give that credit for our 15.4mph average speed - that was due to Ricky and Peter having strong legs, and yours truly barely managing to keep up.

That's two quick rides in two weeks for me. I need some of you other folks to come out and keep me honest; these paces are going to be my ruin.