getting back to it

 I've fallen off writing about these rides. It's probably part of a general malaise about cycling: I like working on the bikes (and I'm getting more opportunities to do so), and I like teaching about them (I teach the Basic Bicycle Maintenance course at the Princeton Adult School, and, as usual, the course is full for this semester)... but I'm less taken with actually riding the bike, probably because I'm not as strong or as fast as I was a couple of years ago (and I was never very fast, although I used to be good going up a hill).

Other responsibilities, illness, and cataract surgery led to my not riding much over the past year or so, but I've gotten back to it (less because I really enjoyed it, and more because I want to get back into better physical shape). As I've ridden more, I've gotten better (now, there's a surprise), and as I've gotten better, I've gotten more interested in riding more.

 

 All this to say that I went out on one of the weekday club rides this past Wednesday. Since it's a weekday ride, most of the folks who come are retired. The regulars who used to do this ride called it "Team Social Security", although that seems to have fallen out of use.

As you can see from some of the pictures, the "Team Social Security" moniker would still apply.

 

The rides are usually about 30-35 miles, and while they advertise C, C-plus, and B-minus paces, they tend to go faster; riders go off the front, and sometimes wait at turns or stops (and sometimes don't). This ride was advertised as having B-minus and C-plus rides doing the same route (so that riders who tired after starting with the faster group, could get "picked up" by the slower group  when we came along). There was a certain amount of self-reflection and reassessment of personal abilities as some of the riders looked at the fast folks who came for the B-minus ride... and it may be that one decided to roll with the slower group, instead.

That said, though, one of the things I like about this group, is that they look out for one another, and don't let people just fall of in the back. I'm an occasional drop-in, but the regulars know one another's abilities, and consider whether someone may be having an off day. They know that some don't climb well, for example, but will keep up handily on flats and descents. They keep a brisk pace, but they care for one another.

 

My current schedule doesn't allow for me to come out on all of their rides, but I think I need to join them more frequently than I do.

 

You can see how we did on the ride page. 

 

I've got a couple of interesting rides planned for the upcoming weekend, and I plan to do posts about them, as well. And now that I've written that, perhaps I'll feel responsible enough to actually do it.