Nonetheless, I put a ride up on the site, this time for the Ides of October. At the time I listed it, the weather was supposed to be good, but this morning dawned misty and rainy, and I got emails (to which I responded) and texts (to which I didn't, at least in adequate time; I was all wonky with the cell phone last night and this morning). I headed to the ride start early with hope that I'd have a ride to lead, and no good information about the weather.
I'd done the route yesterday to make sure that the route worked (I'd tried to get it together with Team Erudite, but we had a missed communication - that seems to have been an ongoing refrain in my life this fall!). I promised less than 1000' of climb, and that page shows about 1300'... but it includes my ride to and from home; removing that shows the ride has just about 1000' of climbing (much of it nasty, brutish, and short, but that leaves the rest of the ride to be downhills and flats).
For today, I had four other takers: John B, Andrew A, Laura OLPH (both Andrew and Laura rode in from home, as did I), and Jack H, newly moved to Pennsylvania, and whom I haven't seen since; he was a pleasant surprise.
We'd barely started before Laura stopped for pictures.
And off we went. We go a short way on Amwell on this route, and then cross it two more times; Laura thought I might be tempting fate after my crash a couple of years ago. I explained to John B that I had an understanding with Amwell Road: I keep my riding on it to a minimum, and it doesn't try to kill me anymore.
The ride continued, alternating misty and clearing, then misty for a bit. Rule 9 says, "If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period", but I'm not sure this was bad enough to qualify; there were a LOT of riders out. But the skies were dramatic.
The route includes room for long sprints on Hillsborough and East Mountain (we go the whole length of East Mountain); Jack took off and we didn't see him again till the other end; he said he'd had time to get a shower at Carrier Clinic and order a pizza by the time we arrived, but I didn't see the pizza box.
WE stopped at the bagel bakery in the Princeton North Shopping Center (it's at mile 25, but there's no earlier place to stop).
And who should appear but Robert N, who did something painful and lingering to his back on the Sourland Spectacular, and who's been off the bike since (doing spin classes and whatnot at the gym).
We hope for his speedy recovery and return.
Laura and Andrew split off to ride home, and I led Jack and John on a circuitous route back to the start, making a five-mile ride into about ten. But it was a good day... and if you only wanted the most direct routes, why are you coming out with me?
At the end, as we were chatting in the lot, Sr Frrancisco, mechanic at Kim's Bikes (who treats me way better than I deserve) came out of the woods. He's in training for a six-hour mountain bike race. I have not words.
Ride page. That long tail leading off to the east and south is my route from home and back. If you eliminate that, you get 1000' of climb, and that's my story.
*Yes, I know nobody ever called him Bill, to the best of our knowledge; "Will" is the favored nickname. Don't go callin' Professor Lynch on me; he, if anyone, will get the joke. (He'll also probably be able to call up eleventy-two citations of "Bill Shakespeare", with all of he appurtenant
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