Lots of other things are cancelled, too, but right now, I'm talking about club rides.
At the same time, at least during the week, outdoor exercise was being encouraged. So in a flurry of emails among the Insane Bike Posse (because Tom H sent the first email and said he would plan the route), people agreed to a ride starting at Village Park in Cranbury. I wasn't sure I'd be able to go because The Excellent Wife (TEW) and I had a Hot Date planned... but then, pretty much everything that hadn't been cancelled got cancelled, and I was suddenly free to do the ride.
Bob N and I drove in; Tom and Jack H rode in together, and Ricky G rode in on his own.
Ever the safety-conscious leader, Tom brought out a six-foot string with a weight on the end and swung it around to make sure we knew what a six-foot radius looked like, so we'd know how far to stay away from one another. Video below:
We took his "suggestion" tolerably well.
(A modification of that picture is now the background of the Princeton Freewheelers page.)
Tom set a route that was a figure-of-eight with the crossing near the Sharon School. Laura OLPH met us there (and rolled off home when we got back there).
Although there is always conversation on our rides (and this was no exception), there was less than usual on this one. When riding side-by-side, we took up the whole lane, and, while there was far less traffic than usual, there was still some traffic. So discussions were interrupted.
We stopped at a place that usually has available toilets (but they were closed; we had to improvise -- fantasize wildly), and stopped again at Roy's. Roy's was open, but only for takeout, and the toilets there were closed as well. We sat in the outdoor chairs (with adequate separation; see Tom's blog post for verification -- Tom's post also might have the best lead-off picture ever).
And then more-or less straight back to Cranbury. Ride Page.
We'd heard that while we were out, Governor Phil was going to make an announcement about further restrictions due to the COVID-19. I was a bit anxious that this was to be the last ride until the infection had passed. But it doesn't have to be; once again, outdoor recreation is one of the excluded classes from the general order to stay home and off the roads.
So I took advantage of that this morning. I'm writing this post from the home of the 90-year-old Excellent Mother-In-Law, who had a stroke several months ago, and now all of the family steps in to assist with her care. My current position is more-or-less as fifth wheel, while TEW acts the Martha around the house.
But earlier today, I was able to get a solo ride in from home. There was little notable about it... except that I rolled through Veterans Park in Montgomery and saw this:
For me, those "Playground Closed" signs, and the hazard tape across the basketball court, will be the icons of this infection. Pictures like these will be what schoolkids learn from in sixty years.
But I got 23 miles in. At first I didn't realize I had a tailwind, and thought I was riding exceptionally well... but then I turned to come back, and my speed dropped. Such is life in wartime.
Ride page.
TEW has been told not to come to work tomorrow, and while I'm still going to the office, there are about seven people in a room usually filled with almost fifty. Since we don't see clients there (it's a phone-and-web support office), I may be safer there than anywhere. My hands feel like sunburn from the washing and disinfectant. Here's hoping for a return to normality for all of us, and here's hoping for a silver lining from all of this uncertainty and financial upset.
Did I just imply something?
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