ride on a hot day

 You probably had the same feelings we did, when all that rain and whatnot predicted for yesterday, didn't actually appear. Instead, it was just a hot day, and you definitely could have gotten out for a ride, but by the time you decided the rain wasn't coming, it was already too hot to think straight. So you didn't get a ride in yesterday...

... and instead, you made sure you got out early today, because you knew it was going to be hot. I know, because I saw you: there were people out on their bikes before 7:00 am, when I was getting my pre-ride bagels and heading to the start at the Claremont school.

I had limited my club ride to fifteen, and then got a plaintive request to add one more (that I didn't have the heart to refuse), so I had sixteen registered... and then I had multiple cancellations this morning, mostly complaining about the heat and the distance ("I'm not doin' 40 miles in this!"). But 12 hardy riders came out (I know they're hardy, because they all actually finished, despite the unpleasant temperatures).

(I CANNOT get a good picture of Rachel, above. I have several awful pictures of her, but decency demands I keep them private.)

Four riders went off the front, and we didn't see them again until we got to the stop at Boro Bean. The rest of us kept together and kept an eye on one another, making sure nobody got too far behind (different riders were at the back at different times, suggesting that this group was decently well-matched). We went down to Princeton, through ETS, then up to Hopewell. 

At the Boro Bean:

Some of the bikes (not all ours) that were out today:

Regular readers will know I love bike pics.

And back. The ride after the stop was at a more reasonable pace, at least for the eight of us in the slower group. There were times when one or another of us was out of breath and suffering in the heat. It may be that, in deference to the heat and global warming, we may need to do shorter rides on these hot days. It's something I need to think about.

(And as I write this, there is rain, which was NOT predicted for today in this area.)

So what did you do today?