It was going to be a hot day. A very hot day.
Cecil appeared shortly before 8am ("I had a ferocious tailwind! May I use your bathroom?"). We then collected Jason, and continued on to TE, which is a mile closer than Longbottom's Coffee, where our club rides start.
Many of the Herd were there, as well as the largest collection of Smartwool socks ever seen by the writer. Browsing, visiting, and in some cases, shopping ensued, before our planned 9:30am departure.
We rode west, though North Plains, then the out and back on Dairy Creek Road. Cecil was distracted by a field of what I am told are alpacas, with cute poodle cuts. Long pause for pictures.
The temperature just kept rising and rising and rising... A pause at the defunct Mountaindale Store, where Jason, Cecil, Don and myself decided that the burgers and cold drinks waiting back at TE were perhaps more tempting than climbing Old Pumpkin Ridge Rd.
Linda, Laura, and Diane elected to follow the original plan. A long pause at the North Plains market (water, Gatorade, chips, shade), then back to TE.
Slug and Jeff cheerfully cooked up burgers-of-choice for us all, while suggesting we drink more. Fitz drove out to shop. We ate, visited, and then shopped. Cecil had deliberately chosen to NOT have any way to carry stuff home, so as to limit her purchases, but Slug offered to drop them off :-) He had a big bag to deliver, I hear.
Jason and I were not inclined to ride home (100+ degrees by this point). We dropped Jason off, then Fitz thought he should go by Nike to get his Livestrong Volunteer Packet. I already had my stuff. We arrived to find that he didn't need to do that, and walked around the Livestrong Village. I was distracted by a Trek Madone 5.1 WSD. Carbon fiber, white/gray/pink... But it was too big. "I have a 47cm one, too. Want to do a test ride?". We established that if I brought my Frog pedals around, he'd swap them on, and off I'd go. Fitz figured if I was going to do that, I could find my own way home. No problem, there. I had a bike, after all.
What fun! I've never ridden a carbon fiber bike (compact double, low spoke count wheels, the most amazing teeny handlebars with no reach and very little drop, complete dark side for a randonneur :-) ). It was a good ride, very stable, easy to ride no-hands, which I cannot say that for the Lemond. I can't justify it. I really couldn't tell if I was riding carbon fiber. It didn't feel different. Friend Beth says that is because I'm not heavy enough to tell the difference, in terms of the alleged "dead" feel. But, yeah, it was fun!
Rode home. Kept drinking and drinking and drinking. And not feeling much better. I finally broke into a defenseless bag of tortilla chips. Half a bag later, I felt much better. I must have needed the salt.
my pics here
Cecil's pics here
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