after some hills and a bee sting, i get left alone

That's not really how it happened, of course, but it does make a good title.

Not knowing that Tom H would plan a ride with 3700' of climb for yesterday, I planned a ride for today going out through Princeton to Hopewell with ALL the hills, including Pretty Brook Road and the long climb up Carter to Mount Rose. I had eight registrants, but two of 'em either thought better of it, or had better offers, because six were at the start: Andrew A, Eric H, Laura OLPH,Bob N, Juan R, and John Van S.

I led 'em down Canal Road, and on one of my real-estate tours through the neighborhoods of Princeton, before turning onto Elm and then onto Pretty Brook. On one of the hills there, Eric heard a "clunk" and thought he'd dropped a chain (he hadn't), but as he was getting himself settled, he got a bee sting in the back of his right calf. Eric apparently has a number of food allergies, so his concern over the bee sting was not ill-founded... but he had some benadryl in his system (does he take it as preventative for the food allergies), and we found out Laura was carrying some after an experience on one of her rides. (It appears we didn't need it; Eric emailed me after the ride that he wasn't dead.)

The inexperienced folks on the ride seemed to have more trouble with the hills on Pretty Brook than they did climbing Carter, which surprised me. We got to the Boro Bean in good order, and it was far less crowded than the previous week. I called for a sit-down-and-have-a-coffee break.

While we were there, George D rolled in with someone I didn't recognize. Laura got to talking to them, and waved us on. Andrew left us as we rolled back on 518.

And then, as we were rolling through Montgomery and Hillsborough, Eric and Bob got ahead of Juan and me, but apparently they thought they were behind us. Juan and I went to make a turn, and I called out to Eric and Bob, but they didn't hear (I'm surprised; my tones are stentorian). So Juan and I continued back. Before we got to the school where we started, Juan turned on Canal Road to head for home... so I did the last part of the ride alone.

(Later, I got a call from Bob explaining about the "thought they were behind us" business, and the subsequent email chain elicited the evidence that Eric has not yet stepped onto Charon's ferry.)

See? There were hills, and a bee sting, and I did get left alone.

Ride page. We were pretty fast today, for one of my rides.