Tom H hasn't led a club ride since the beginning of the pandemic, so when he listed one for today, I was disappointed when rain threatened. But the weather seems to have gotten all of the upset out of its system around 3am (yes, I was awake), and, while the roads were wet at start time, the skies were not concerning.
Tom's start was only about seven miles from the homestead here (more on that later) so I rolled in from home. Laura OLPH had texted that she might be a bit late (she wasn't), and others were already at the start near the quarry.
We rolled out into Rocky Hill and beyond, and came up on Ming, who said she had registered, but couldn't find the start... but she apparently recognized some of us, and joined us for the rest of the ride.
Shortly thereafter Jack H had a tire disturbance. Initially he went it alone, but after a while, the usual team of Freewheeler advice-offerers and judges were in evidence.
On we went, climbing first Grandview, then Hollow and Long Hill. Tom likes the uphills for the subsequent downhills, but I find them frightening, so I made sure nobody got left behind on the way down by bringing up the rear.
Along the way (one of these might wind up being the website background for a while):
We stopped at the Carousel in Ringoes.
While there, Laura, who had been complaining of back trouble, discovered that her seatpost had worked loose again. We got it tightened back up, but Laura didn't trust it, and left us when we got to the top of Saddle Shop and Rileyville; she went on home, while the rest of us continued to the end at the quarry.
I later got a text that Laura had brought the bike to Hart's. They pronounced the seatpost "shot" and replaced it with an aluminum one for now; the quest for the carbon replacement begins in this time of bike-part shortages.
At the quarry, I had a choice: I could keep the ride home to about seven miles... but that would require climbing the Coppermine hill; 522, Old Georgetown, and Coppermine all climb the same hill in that neighborhood. Or I could go around, which I opted to do: I went up Canal Road to Bunker Hill to try that. The surface is better than Butler, and the route is shorter than going to Suydam and Claremont, but I had to ride a distance on Route 27. That's no problem when I'm alone, but I'm unlikely to lead a club ride on it.
In addition to Ming, two other comparative strangers rode along, both of whom had been on at least one of my rides: Ira N and Chris K (whom, embarassingly, I did not recognize at first). Here's hoping we see some of the strangers again.
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