surprise registrations

 

I listed a ride on Wednesday, and the listing was, apparently, completely ignored. No registrants, none, no interest, nothing, nada. When I left for my all-day 20-mile ride yesterday, I was considering cancelling. 

When I got up this morning, I had twelve registrants, though, and by the time I went to print the sheet; I had thirteen, and by the time we actually departed, I had fourteen. So there's that.

Saini knows: if you're gonna put your bike upside-down, protect it.

The route went down through Princeton, almost in front of Rich W's door, so he decided to join us there, and Laura OLPH, who had also decided to meet us on the route, was with him when we found him. And except for an incident where some riders followed a rider who was off the front and didn't have the route, so he missed a turn, it wen off without a hitch. (They caught up without incident; I gave a snarky little speech about keeping the leader in sight if you wanna get back to your car.)

In Princeton, I had decided not to go down Rosedale because it was closed to cars when I drove over to check (I have since heard from the excellent Steve S that it IS bike-passable, so I may use it the next time I want to do a similar route). Instead, we used Pretty Brook, which has hills that are not high, but they can be demanding. From there, we went to Bayberry, which is due to get chip-seal this week, so I'll be off that for a month or so, at least (there's a post on the Freewheelers Facebook Page about upcoming chipseal on roads in the Sourlands. caveat ascensor; let the rider beware!

We stopped at the Boro Bean, which was just ROCKIN'.

It was busy enough that I didn't get any food there, which was a mistake; I ran outta gas on Suydam Road, just at the end of the ride. No bonk, but that last half-mile or so was slow.

We had a couple of riders who were, I think, concerned that the pace was going to get away from them, but they both kept up, and appeared to be smiling at the end. The ride page confirms: 15.3mph average (on a moderately hilly ride: 1700' elevation in 42 miles).

Two other notes: Raj N sent along these two pictures he got of me; he is (I think, justly) proud of 'em"

Not that I'm such a great subject, but especially on the first, I like the framing, and the dramatic sky.

The other note is that this is the first ride with that Sensah Empire group I installed last week. I think the group performed well. The weak link doesn't appear to be the groupset, but the rider: I find I'm still making the hand motions that would shift my previous set, and have to remember that I don't have those on the bike anymore. It's still too early to tell, but I think I like this set, and I think it should be considered by riders who want cable shifting and are willing to use cable-actuated brakes.