father's day ride

 I'm not a father, so I didn't know who I'd get on a ride for Father's Day... but a number of my Usual Suspects came out, as did a couple I've not seen much of. I had Luis C, Ricky G, Dave H, Laura OLPH, Mindy N, and new-to-me Marc P and Mingshun L (she had been on Tom's ride yesterday), and non-member David F. Wait, a non-member? You can bet I was RELENTLESS about promoting the club to him. He was polite, but his eyes may still be rolling over the surfeit of a sales job to which I subjected him.

Luis had an issue come up and had to head home, promising to meet us along the route, and Laura already had that plan, so the rest of us headed out from the start. Laura met us at Butler Road and Canal, and we headed down to 518; I gave the go-ahead for folks to take off if they wanted, but almost nobody did. Perhaps it was the heat and humidity, or an excess of politeness... but in any case, it wore off, and we kept breaking into a fast group and a slow group.

We DID meet Luis in Princeton near Library & Hodge, and then headed up to Pretty Brook, where the hills separated us again. We caught up where Pretty Brook crosses Provinceline.

At the end of Bayberry, I think:

From there to the Boro Bean, which was unusually busy: it's pretty clear people are glad to be able to get out and do normal-feeling stuff. Dave H went over to the convenience store, which is a sensible alternative (and not too far away). 

After the Boro Bean, Laura went home (she's now riding an aluminum seatpost, replacing the one that's been giving her trouble). The rest of us headed back. I had planned a longer route initially, but forgot, and called for us to cross at Griggstown. There was some confusion as our GPS's pointed the other way. I put it to a vote: go straight back, or add the extra miles, and humidity and tiredness won out over ambition (but not by much: there were two votes for straight back, and nobody else said anything).

Luis turned off at Canal Road, and the rest of us went back via Suydam and Claremont. At the last turn onto Suydam, One of the riders decided to hang back, and I was grateful for the chance to slow down - after the ride yesterday and this one today, I was ready for an easy pedal.

I got some last pictures as folks were packing up.

We ended up with 40-ish miles, 1600' of climb. My average might have been a bit slower than most.