november rides....outside and inside

[ny biker]

Sunday's ride was much better than Saturday's. I was signed up for a century but opted to drop down to the 66 mile option - when I got to the start I decided I just didn't want to spend my whole day on a bike. Also, one of the sections for the longer route is very rough pavement and goes through a lot of depressing trailers where I always imagine people are inside cooking meth. At my speed (13.5- 14.5 average) it most likely would have taken me at least 7 hours. So my friend and I had a good ride although we battled the wind for most of the second half and got back for lunch when the fast riders were finishing the century. It was cool but not cold (around 50) to start, and in the 70's midday. Last time I did the full century, the food was about gone and they were taking down the SAG station when I rolled in (nearly last if not completely last...)

You've just described the reasons I don't do full centuries anymore. I have a friend who doesn't care that he's the last to finish, with the post-ride picnic over before he gets there, because he loves spending all day on the bike. But I enjoy it more when I do shorter routes, usually a metric.

Best wishes to your friend on her recovery.

I had the day off today (well our client was closed so we weren't allowed to work, but my employer was open so I had to take a vacation day, but anyway), so I led a 40-mile ride for the bike club. It was nice to do a daytime ride on a day when I would usually be going out in the dark after work. One of my friends co-led for another ride category, a slightly slower group. Yesterday's club ride was cancelled because of rain, so I expected a good group, and in total we had about 20 people. It was a nice route through farmland with a visit to a local park on the Patuxent River.

As I was driving to the ride start, just before I arrived there, the odometer on my car reached 100,000 miles. Seems nice for my car to reach that milestone on my way to a fun bike ride with friends.