So Laura OLPH's email asking if I were going on her ride today said:
The Slugs are leaving from Pennington at 9:30.
I blew glass today.
(You need to be reading the posts entitled "A Hot Mess Part NN" on her blog - there's a link above - to get the glass reference.)
Well, when I get invited, I go*; and I also wanna chat with her more about blowing glass (BLOWING GLASS, of all things! How cool is THAT?!), so I replied I was coming, and got up and packed the car (in the 26°F) and drove to the start at Twin Pines in Pennington.
While assembling my kit, and trying not to freeze, I saw Marty G ride up.
He's got a new mount for his camera on the bike, and was considerin' today whether to wear mittens to keep his hands warm, or gloves so he could manipulate the camera.
Better sense prevailed, and he went with the mittens. There will be better days for pictures than today.
Andrew A rode in...
......as, a few minutes later, did Laura and Ricky G.
And, although I didn't get a picture at the time**, so did Ken G, on a cross bike with extra-wide tires and a few pounds of dried mud, just for the increased challenge, I guess.
And sometime after we started, Racer Pete appeared in our midst.
Laura didn't have a route in mind, but Ricky had texted her about a shorter ride with a stop at the end at The Pig (see this post for some explanation... or just see the graphic on the linked page), and that was the plan at the start. So off we went...
...on a route that had almost 1000' of elevation in the first 13 miles. "C'mon, Laura", I complained, "This is a route we're supposed to be doing in June, not February!"
Laura was neither impressed, nor, as I think now, consoling.
We got spread out, and stopped at the top of some hill or other to regroup (we did it a few times, but I didn't get pictures of all of them**).
On we went without a formal stop; Marty stopped at least once for pictures (now, is THAT kind of thing gonna be allowed on a Hill Slug ride?), and Racer Pete had to look at his phone to see who called him, but we basically went through the ride, in hopes of getting back to The Pig before it closed at noon.
But when we were just turning off Wargo Road at something-to-twelve, it became clear that we weren't going to make it to The Pig*** (although we'd been pedaling along at a pretty good clip for a Hill Slug ride). So Laura changed the plan and we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts on Route 31 (sorry for the potato quality of these pics).
When we came out, though the day was considerably warmer than it was at the start, clouds had rolled in, and humidity was up so it felt raw. We rode the few miles back to Twin Pines, where Marty told me about an upcoming trip, and I held forth with bloviation and diapason gassery about the benefits of different diameter bike tires (I must bore people to TEARS about that stuff; it's a wonder anybody speaks to me at all.
In other news, I'm now the Website Editor for the Freewheeler web page; if you have suggestions or requests, you can send 'em to my PFW Editor address. If you have complaints, forward those to the special address at /dev/null.
In OTHER other news, I'm trying to learn better how to wrap my bars. This is an attempt to use alternating wraps of contrasting colors:
It needs work. But don't be surprised if I have different wrap every time you see me this year.
*Barring, of course, invitations from leaders who are too fast, too slow, too serious, too frivolous...
**Did I mention it was 26°F?
***Get it? In the title? Kosher Ride? Didn't get to The Pig? Oh, never mind.
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