rain came early

When I set out for the ride this morning, the rain wasn't supposed to start until noon or afterwards. I don't think the rain goddess reset her clock for Eastern Standard Time (there's a South Indian goddess of rain and disease cure named Mariamman; the gentle rain today might be her doing, and missing the re-setting of the clock is just the kind of thing that a goddess, preoccupied with disease cures and the like, might slip up on. Most of the rain gods and goddesses are about storms, and storms were definitely not in evidence today). I had fourteen registered, most of whom appeared at the start; we were to meet two of them along the route.

One of my regulars later told me they weren't sure they were going to come when they saw the people who had registered, because a number of them were fast. This group WAS fast; I "led" mostly from the back, except when they kindly let me catch up and give a direction and a traffic warning. 

We rolled down to Princeton, and then along the dip and climb at Rosedale Road. I was proud of getting up the hill on Rosedale pretty quickly, but any triumph was short lived; as we turned into ETS, the group got ahead of me. One rider,who is always stronger than I, was hanging back; it turned out she'd run twelve miles the day before, and was recuperating.

Sheesh.

(I'm surprised none of these faster members become leaders and start their own rides. I've heard the concern that the riders don't want to have to be responsible for riders who have problems or accidents... but accidents on Princeton Free Wheeler rides are not common, and if the ride is posted at a B+ pace [which many of these riders can easily maintain], there's no expectation to wait for stragglers. Besides, when there IS a problem on a ride, I've never seen our members fail to step up and work out whatever problems arise... it's not like you have to do it all on your own. I've never had to do it all on my own, and I've led a number of rides where there have been dramatic happenstances. You, friend reader, don't get to read about the most dramatic ones... Anyway, go become a ride leader and list faster rides; I can't keep up with youse anymore.)

But I felt the drip-drip along Bayberry, and then it got to be somewhat steady. We made the decision to stop at the Brick Farm Market instead of Boro Bean, because of the larger interior with more seating.

Riders checked their weather radar on their phones, and we made a further decision to continue back along 518 instead of keeping to the planned route, to minimize the chance of riding over now-slippery leaves. They ALL passed me... and then, in Blawenburg, I felt the rear-wheel rough ride and unpredictable handling indicative of a flat tire. I took the tire off, and found a piece of glass inside the shape of Nevada (although somewhat smaller), with the pointy bit at the south sticking upward into the tube as far as Carson City. It was large enough to be easy to find, although dug in enough to be difficult to remove. Remove it I did, though, and once quit of The Silver State, the tire went back on and I got rolling again. I made it back to the start in time to see the last of the riders packing up; evidently, everybody else got back OK.

Ride page.

Here's hoping my next lead is less dramatic... and here's hoping I can keep up with 'em.