In that picture on the right... are they both single? Have they met somebody on Ourtime? Are they looking to meet someone else? Is the purpose of this website, uhh... not what I think it is?
I have so many questions.
And, as the photo attests, people actually thought this was a good enough idea that they showed up.
Partly because of the cold, I think, it wasn't a chatty ride I (I know a number of you faster folks are shaking your heads and saying, "If you're able to talk, you're not riding hard enough", but you guys would be miserable on my rides for more reasons that just that). Still, we were friendly, and mostly well-matched.
We rolled down to Kingston, then back up to Rocky Hill on the other side of the river... and then up to Millstone and back. I started to bonk on the last bit: I'd underestimated the demands of this shorter ride on this cold day. On a 40-ish mile ride with a stop, I'm generally having some sugar and empty calories at about mile 25 or so. So having no stop for 30 miles, on this cold day, meant I should have caloried up... but I didn't think of that, until my misery made it clear that I'd made the mistake. (On the way home, I stopped at the bagel place, and put in the calories I should have done a couple hours before.)
Tuesday night, I start teaching my "Basic Bicycle Maintenance" class at the Princeton Adult School; we chatted a bit about that on the ride, and about my upcoming move to Monroe. My intention is to lead some rides from near there, and others from this Claremont School in Franklin Township location, as some people really like this start. But I doubt I'll hit my goal of 40 leads this year.
This commenter from GCN shows why high-viz isn't the protection we think it is.
See it on Youtube here.
The Excellent Wife (TEW) has a habit of streaming movies and whatnot as she prepares to go to work in the morning, and this morning she's been streaming Harvey, a 1950 film based on a 1944 play of the same name by Mary Chase. I overheard two lines close to one another in the play, and each is worth remembering.
Elwood P Dowd, the main character, has a friend who's a puca, a creature with the shape of an animal (in this case, a human-sized rabbit), who's invisible to most people. After Dowd is brought to the psychiatrist Dr Chumley, Chumley gets to see Harvey as well, and exclaims at one point, "Fly specks, fly specks! I've been spending my life among fly specks while miracles have been leaning on lampposts at 18th and Fairfax!"
A little later, Dowd is talking to someone (I don't remember who; I was overhearing, not watching), and says, "Years ago, my mother used to say to me — she’d say, [...] ‘In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart, or oh so pleasant.’ Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant."
I'm spending a little time musing on these this morning.
I'm sorta back to my usual lead-rides-for-the-club-on-Sundays schedule. Now, Canal Road going up to the Blackwells Mills causeway is supposed to be open again. My suspicions are aroused, because it was supposed to be open earlier in the week, and then it wasn't... and all the "Road Closed" signs are still up (but I've seen that some of the "Road Closed" and "Detour" signs for other local projects are still up years after the construction is complete; it seems the budget never allows enough money at the end for sign removal). So I decided to give it a little more time before using one of my routes that crosses Blackwells Mills, and picked a route that goes down from my usual start at the Claremont School in Franklin, to Princeton, and then to Hopewell and back across the Griggstown causeway.
I had fifteen, and then I got a number of cancellations (most of the faster folks chose a better option, a faster-rated ride out of Mercer Park), and then I had some late registrants, and I wound up with eleven.
I led 'em out, and we took off at a pretty good clip... but shortly after we made a turn onto Canal Road, I found myself in the back with two others, and the rest of the group was disappearing ahead of us. The would politely wait at turns, chat for a bit, and whatnot; perhaps they'd let me lead for a few hundred yards... and then someone would decide to give me a lesson in what real riding looks like, and a few others would follow, and then a few of us in the back would be rolling up to the politely patient group waiting at the stop.
(I know this kind of behavior gets rage and eyerolls from certain ride leaders, but it really doesn't bother me. I ride at the advertised pace, making sure the folks who are also riding that pace are doing OK, and the folks up ahead are not my concern. If they go too far off the front, they're off the ride, and if they follow the route, they will get back to the start. I used to try to keep up, but I generally don't any more.)
We went down to Princeton, and across the ETS campus.
The day was not frigid, by any means, but it was cold, and is it possible it was colder after the break? Some felt so, and sped up to generate extra body heat. I, and a few in the back, proceeded at what I chose to call a "parade pace." You can see the ride page here.
I had hoped to get forty ride leads in this year, but rainy January and other responsibilities may interfere. I'll do what I can. It surprises me, though, that this many weeks into the year, I only have two leads in. Oh, well.
It was great partly because there were a couple of guys there I haven't seen on a ride in ages: one, because of new-business responsibilities, and another because of illness. The illness situation is apparently much better, and this rider was able to complete the first, less-demanding half of the ride with us. I had missed him, and hope to see him more regularly.
The guy with the business responsibilities came out, but his electronic shifting was uncooperative after he had been off the bike for months. He decided he couldn't ride with us in the single gear he had, and sadly went home; he's subsequently diagnosed the problem, and it apparently has an easy fix. (My bar-end friction shifters continue to give uncomplaining service in the harshest of conditions. Just sayin'.)
But eight of us went out of Pennington today. The ride page shows we started near the Terra Momo Bakery in Pennington, did a very pleasant, flat twenty-odd miles around Lawrenceville, then went back to the Terra Momo for some empty calories and fellowship, and did another, much more demanding twenty miles (including climbs on Pleasant Valley and Harbourton), before ending at Terra Momo.
(I picked up a dolce niente for The Excellent Wife (TEW) before I came home. Valentine's Day is coming, and an old man wants to stay married.)
Yeah, I didn't get enough pictures. I'm leading for the club tomorrow; maybe I'll do better.
Those are about the only pictures that came out. The CCD in my camera appears to like the cold weather even less than you do.
How is it that we're already into February, and this is the first time I've led a ride with the club? I'll tell you: between weather and real life, I just haven't had any days free. Rain and flooded roads, family responsibilities, and new real estate realities have conspired to claim my Sundays so I've been unable to do my usual ride leads.
Apparently, though, there were people agreeable to come out, even on such a cold day. I limited the ride to fifteen, and then forgot to register a non-member I'd agreed to come along, so I had to raise it to sixteen... and then a rider who also has real-life conflicts contacted me and said she had a few hours for a ride this morning, as she almost never did, and could she come along? And I simply could not refuse, so I had seventeen on my limited-to-fifteen ride.
Luckily, Joe E took the faster folks (including Ralph, apparently recovering from a terrible crash in the fall; he's not completely satisfied with his progress, but he's doing very well nonetheless). We started out together, but sweep Dave H and I made sure nobody was falling off the back, and we let the faster folks disappear over the horizon. My rule is if you're not there when we get to the turn, I'm not worryin' about you (and I don't have to with these riders, truth to tell; I'm grateful to Joe for taking them).
One rider informed me up front that he was recovering from a respiratory problem, so I was a bit of a mother hen watching to make sure he was keeping up. He did fine; rode within the advertised pace, and kept up with the group.
I prolly worry too much.
Canal Road is still closed between my ride start and the Blackwells Mills Causeway, so I've adjusted a few of my routes so they go out-and-back over the Griggstown Causeway (luckily, not flooded these days, after having spent enough of January underwater). You'll see on the ride page.
And apparently, I haven't completely forgotten how to lead a club ride.
(Wait... did he say something up there about "real estate realities"? Does that need elaboration?) It probably does. The Excellent Wife (TEW) and I are in contract for a home in Monroe. Now, I start my rides at Clarement School because it's close to my home and I can ride the bike to the start, and now because I know the roads around there. We'll be moving by spring, I suppose, and I have a decision to make: to start rides near the new house, or to continue to start rides at the Claremont School in Franklin Township. For some riders, this is a convenient start (for some, it's clearly not!). I suspect I'll come to a "sometimes this, sometimes that" decision, once I learn the roads around the new (to us) house.
Given the fact that I'm always lost when I have two wheels under me, I expect Ill have learned the roads well enough to lead rides near the new house by November of 2031.
Last week, I did a club ride that was more than I was ready for. There's a lit of excitement chez Plain Jim about an upcoming move to a house that The Excellent Wife (TEW) and I really like. I'm extra busy, and not sleeping well, and just not in great shape generally. So when the club members I usually ride with posted a ride with climb comparable to the one on which I had so much trouble last week, I decided to go with something else. I found another ride in the same speed class, but less than half the climb, and shorter.
There were only four other registrants, along with leader Dave. One of them is much faster than I, and another can mostly keep up with her. But two others are regular pals, and the leader comes out on many of my Sunday rides, so I figured I'd have some people to ride with.
At the start, though, I got the message that the two regular pals weren't coming due to car trouble. I swallowed hard, but the leader assured me he'd stay with me. So off we went.
Dave, the leader, planned this to be a winter ride, shorter than usual, without a snack stop. That was OK with me; I've been snacking enough, and I figured I could get through the comparatively short distance on breakfast alone.
I wound up doing better than I'd thought. I wasn't keeping up with the fast woman, of course, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to, and I wound up doing a better pace than I'd thought I would. In the first half of the ride, we rode up to Mt. Rose along Crusher Road, and I was up in or near the front. I fell back after that, but I kept pace with the group the rest of the way.
Dave's route went back up to Mt. Rose along Pennington-Rocky Hill Road, after which he'd planned to go to Province Line... but he asked if we wanted to do that. Another rider said he didn't mind missing the climb, and I quickly agreed, so Dave adjusted the route, and we went to 518 via Hopewell-Princeton Road (most of us know it as the top part of Carter Road).
Dave said he thought that climb to Mt. Rose along Pennington-Rocky Hill was worse than Province Line. I was certainly glad not to do both.
Dave took us along Bedens Brook Road, an alternative to a stretch of 518. I've got to remember that for some of my rides.
So I think this was a good decision for me, at my current state of fitness, both physical and mental-emotional. I'm glad I had this chance.
Go check the ride page.
