bad pictures of a good ride

 

I'm not kidding; that one of Joe E keeping warm before we started was about the best of 'em.

Weather was predicted to be a little warmer today than the last two weeks, so I decided to do a 38-miler with a stop at that Blawenburg Bistro that The Excellent Wife (TEW) and I like (although we don't go often enough, because we don't want to succumb to their always-excellent-but-high-calorie bakery offerings). Laura OLPH also listed a ride for today (no doubt she'll have a post about it soon), and I like to ride with her and the Hill Slugs... but I also like the consistency of offering my Sunday rides, and six club members apparently appreciated it, as well: Joe E, Dave H, Doug & Christine R, Eric H, & Eduardo Z.

It was undoubtedly cold at the start, and I was a bit worried. I'd done a hike yesterday, and, while it was undoubtedly a good time, it was a COLD experience, and I didn't want to repeat the cold today. But the weather and a high cadence worked together so that by the time I got to the stop, I was warm enough to stay outside.

How about some of those bad pictures?

Have you ever seen Eric's back looking so good?

And maybe Dr Z's face would look better if it actually had some light on it.

That one above isn't so bad... but the focus on the one below?

And for these two... just where is the focus of the picture supposed to be?

 Ride page. These rides take longer than my faster-paced ones (well, DUH), so I've got to allow for that. Traffic as we finished was heavy (it took a long time to cross South Middlebush Road near the end, for example). I may address this when setting the routes.

I may not.

returning to nature

 

Land was donated, near the D&R Canal towpath below Jacques Lane, by Beverly & Abraham Sommer in 1995. I've passed this stone on the bike over and over... but I just recently noticed the mold and lichen on the unpolished, carved panel. In less than 27 years, the process of the stone being reduced to rubble has already begun.

memento mori. ego eris, tu fui.

(I'm a snob, but I'm not heartless. Translations are linked.)

Now, at Thanksgiving, after a number of family plans fell through*, we were invited to a friend's (they felt sorry that we might be alone and neglected), and as we were packing up, the host said he had a hobby of photography, and edited his images in some online product. He spends happy hours doing it, and the cost was a little over a sawbuck a month. 

*(Thank the gods!)

I've resolved to ask about his process the next time I see him (I have visions of the two of us side-by-side on a couch, he with his laptop on his lap, I asking endless and inane questions, while Regina and his wife roll their eyes about "boys and their toys"), but in the meantime, I decided to roll out my GIMP program (a free image-manipulation program similar to Photoshop, but without many of the wizards and controls that make Photoshop easier to use), and play with this image.

The first thing I did was change to black-and-white:

Then I changed the contrast a bit:

I may do some more. Or I may go back to the color version and play with that. Ancora imparo, as apparently nobody important ever said.

 

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.

ernie lee b'day rides

 So the most important thing you have to know about today's Team Social Security rides, is that it's Ernie Lee's 80-somethingth birthday. Immediately after signing up, I got a text from number unknown (that later turned out to be Al P) saying that I should come half-an-hour early because there was gonna be a gathering before the ride for Ernie.

 Here he is getting surprised at the start (note the surreptitious tupperware full of goodies under Al P's arm in the foreground):

(I love that one of Lynne, above. It's not her most attractive picture, but that welcoming offer is Lynne right down to the bone.)

Ernie was apparently surprised and delighted, which is kind of the point, right?

A few more pics before the start:

Above, it's a shame Pat is so inhibited, right?

 It felt like the parking lot just emptied when Christine took the C riders out... but Al wound up leading 17 of us. He called for a left turn out of the lot; I immediately turned right, and didn't realize my mistake until I got to the cross street, and had to sprint to catch up to the tail of the group.

It's a good thing I'm good-lookin'...

The group separated a bit. I got to riding with Ron S. I stopped for a picture...

...and got to talking about the double-layer of tape he keeps on his bars for comfort (I kinda like the look)...

... and then we had to hustle a bit to catch up. 

We stopped in Columbus.

 I got a picture of Pat's most excellent socks:

(If you follow this link, you can see a number of my posts that mostly have to do with other stuff, but also have pictures of bike socks that I think are neat.)

On the way back, I got  going with the fast folks, and kept up with 'em for a few miles, until I graciously thanked 'em for letting me make believe I could hang with them, and fell back to put my lungs back in. Dave M subtly fell back and said he was relaxing a bit, because he didn't want to ruin the rest of his day, but I suspect he said that because he's much to cool to have to say that he was keeping an eye on me. I'm grateful for his attention.

Ride page.

One more of Ernie:

Ernie, you're not just an inspiration (although you are that), you're also an easy person to speak to and a good guy to know. I'm glad I do know you.