parade pace

 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.

 

And we stopped at the Boro Bean in Hopewell, where this vendor was selling plants out front:

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.