small no-pace ride

 A number of the club cyclists planned to do one of the organized rides today (one of which is the locally-famous Central Bucks Covered Bridges Ride), but I didn't get my act together to go (and I wasn't ready to take on the elevation in the Covered Bridges ride), so I posted one of my no-pace rides instead. The Excellent Wife (TEW) agreed to come out, but all of the other registrants could easily have taken on a much more demanding ride... Nonetheless, five of us (including TEW and me) came out.

We do the usual, easy, 21-ish-mile flat route, initially at a chatty pace, and then we picked it up a bit as the ride continued. The group sets the pace of this ride: if I have slower riders, I ride in the back with them; if not, the group set the pace (I've brought up the rear pretty regularly on this ride). 

When we got up to the turn onto Culver Road, TEW engaged in her usual practice of cutting through the bagel shop parking lot to avoid a confusing left turn at a five-points intersection. The rest of us got caught at the light, and TEW pulled way out in front... and then stayed there for miles. She later said that she wasn't worried about the rest of us catching up, and, in truth, I guess she didn't need to be.

Peter R brought out his fixie.

If you've got a bike that may not be suited to most group rides, this is the one on which to bring it. Peter said, though, he wouldn't do it again: since the pedals can't be moved easily to (for example) a convenient starting position, it's not a perfect bike for a group ride. (I hadn't thought of that. Years ago, there was a vogue for fixies on group rides. Nobody complained about the problem, but perhaps nobody wanted to admit that it was a problem for them.

We stopped at the Southfield McCaffreys.

It's a better stop than you would think.

And back. Raj rolled off a bit early because he'd ridden in. Laura OLPH griffed up her miles a bit by riding part of the way back withe me, before heading back to her car.

I'll keep doing these. Come on out, if you're an interested club member - or even if you're not a clb member; you get one for free.