was gonna be

 

Above, Ralph's bike undergoes a non-emergency surgery to deal with a soft tube.

Today's ride was gonna be 35 miles with no real stop, if it was cold enough. So I went with extra bars in my pockets, in case I was going to need sustenance.

But when I got to the start, I found out that, because the weather was warmer than leader Dave H feared, now it was gonna be about 42 miles, with a choice of break at either 16 or 23 miles. I suggested the latter, and there was nobody who cared strongly enough to object.

Above, Jen O in shorts. In December. She was fine; I was the one who was cold.

 

As Dave's rides do, this ride broke into a faster and a slower group. I stayed behind with the slower group, partly out of loyalty to Dave (who makes noises like he values my sweep services), and partly because who am I trying to kid? Do you think I could keep up with the fast group?

I was glad to stay back, though, because one usually-strong rider was having a bad day. Dave and I kept that rider company, and Dave shortened the route to leave out the most demanding hills. We got to the break before the others, and I made a couple of quantum near-the-speed-of-light jokes at which some of the other riders smiled politely.

(One of the pics below might be the background for the Princeton FreeWheelers website soon.)

When the fast group went off, there were six of us left, and we headed back to Cranbury along some of the roads I actually recognized (people familiar with my navigational hopelessness may understand how noteworthy that is!). By the time we got back, we had about 35 miles... which is what this ride was originally gonna be!

Ride page.

I've got one of my somewhat slower rides for tomorrow... but some fast folks are signed up. I'm a little nervous about tomorrow's pace...