Sunday, October 11 rides

[Crankin]

We did a 30ish mile ride in our usual haunts, with the usual riding partners. It was cool, felt a lot colder than it really was because of the wind and of course, the clouds that appeared as soon as we started. I had had 2 glasses of wine the night before and I was paying for it (it was my son's 27th birthday). DH stayed with me as we climbed Oak Hill; not my slowest, but I was trying not to expend too much energy. That 4 mile climb seemed a bit longer yesterday! After stopping Harvard center, we turned off the main road, yet another climb that I always dislike, I guess because it comes after doing Oak Hill! Then, in order to head back toward our start, we go down a very twisty steep downhill that has a stop sign at the end. You guys know I am a downhill wuss and I haven't been on this street in a couple of years. So, DH and male friend head down and I am with my friend, who is a slow rider, but fast descender. As she pulls ahead of me, I hear a "on your left," and a woman just flies by me and my friend (who was going fast). Then, a minute later, another woman comes by me, sort of pushing me off to the right a little and not announcing her presence. At the time, I was thinking whoa, that stop sign is coming up quickly, and those women are flying like they have no idea. I catch up with my friend and she told me that they are from our health club (well, the one I used to go to). DH and friend were stopped at stop sign and said those women flew past them, asked for directions, didn't stay to listen to the response, and then turned around and headed in the other direction. As we were riding up the next road, they came by and one said to me, "Are you lost?" When I said "no," she sneered "Yea, right." Very strange.
About seven miles from the end of the ride, I mistook my friend's instructions about the route. I didn't see DH at a Y intersection where I thought we would turn, but I did see a guy ahead of me, wearing a green vest, so I went ahead. Unfortunately, it was not my DH, I ended up doing a lot more climbing than the rest of them, because I took a route with hills... they were kind of wondering where I went, but we were back in familiar territory, so we eventually met up.
We finished with some really good chocolate herbal tea and home made cornbread.