despite the bonk, did better than i expected

Above, the author having better success than he ought changing a tire. Below, the impressive piece of glass that caused the offense.

I agonized about going on this ride today. In better days, this would have been an easy decision: a number of friends were going on a 30-35-mile ride, on a balmy day at the end of December, a day that was a break from gelid temperatures past and to come. But I haven't been in shape; I've been recovering from COVID and in poor mental health (as I've written), and, even though I rode with some of these folks on a towpath ride a few days ago, this was to be a longer ride, on road, and I wasn't sure I was going to keep up.

With the encouragement of The Excellent Wife (TEW), I went anyway.

 We were seven, and did a route that Tom H sent along. We left from Byron Johnson park, in hopes that the toilets might be open (they weren't...). 

We hadn't counted on the wind. I've since learned that the winds were 25mph gusting up to 32, and I'm here to tell you I believe it. We had a number of rides into the wind, and they were demanding (although the tailwinds were fun).

About three miles in, Heddy couldn't figure out why she was having such trouble; it turned out she had picked up that impressive piece of glass at the top of the post. I helped change the tire, and am disgustingly proud of myself that I got her Continental tire (notoriously a tight fit) off her carbon wheel (also usually a tight fit), by hand, with only a little help from a tire lever, and got the tire back on without the use of the lever at all. With the help of her CO₂ system, we were back on the road quickly. There was a certain amount of banter questioning my mechanic certification, so I'll post a photo or two of it on my garage brag wall at the bottom of this post.

We didn't plan a break on this ride... but that doesn't mean we didn't take any. First, about halfway through, we passed a cow farm. On the narrow road, there was a truck stopped in front of us, and an oncoming backhoe... and on the road surface itself, about an inch of wet mud and dung from the animals. (I made a point of cleaning the bike when I got back; the shoes, however...)

Yuck.

We also decided that we needed to stop for a toilet break. Tom adjusted the route to try to find one, but two places didn't have the expected porta-potty, and some of our number ducked into Roy's as we passed. 

Roy's has not been happy with bicyclists in the past, as they have made abundantly clear, and they have a sign on the door with the implication:

 But apparently our two riders left satisfied.

The last bit of the ride was a slog into the wind along Stone Tavern Road for about 3+ miles... and I just didn't have it; I bonked before the light at Old York, and, although I did get back to the car, I did so at a nearly funereal pace.

Still, I did better than I expected; were it not for the wind, I expect I would have been fine. The rest of the gang will do another ride tomorrow; I won't be recovered for that... but I expect to be able to get into condition to lead my usual rides next year (as I did not in 2024).

Two more bits of business: first, the ride page, which most of you will ignore... and second, my garage brag wall, with my mechanic certification: