I was instructed to show up promptly at 9, for the inevitable faffing and a 9:30am departure. Jeff and Lee were also riding. As I left the house a bit late to work in a hill climb, I took the most direct route, and arrived promptly at 9. Lee pulled up, we rang the doorbell. We knocked. Finally, the door opened :-) Then the garage door opened, and Jeff and Susan completed their pre-ride preparations. Lee and I wondered at the absence of freshly-baked biscuits, butter and jam. And coffee.
Munched on a ProBar (360 calories) on the way up. Waved at Prancer the Pony. One of these days I'll get on a first name basis with the alpacas further along.
Took a picture, but had to stop to get my glove back on, so worked hard, but didn't catch up - they made it to the turnaround a bit before I did.
Nice late winter day, jacket not required - fleece jersey, thermal vest and new gloves and I was good. The trees are starting to leaf out, but heading north and slightly up on Dairy Creek showed that it was still winter - snow from the Meacham Rd intersection onward. Fortunately, not on the road.
Way fun heading back - slight downgrade, and I was rocketing (avg speed 20mph) back to the intersection with Mountaindale Rd.
I was chatting with Susan - she said it looked like I needed a new saddle. I also said I needed new shoes, the Pearl Izumis were getting soft. Susan: "what size do you wear?". Now, we wear the same size shoe. We also ride pretty much the same size bicycles, and have been known to swap shoes and bikes on a ride. To make a short story long, she had some Sidi Dominators she was no longer wearing (went for the shiny Sidi Dragons, yes she did) which needed a new home...
Practiced riding no-hands. It is getting much easier. I'll attribute that to my improved core strength.
From there we headed over to Longbottoms for second breakfast. Lee broke off to go home, but got to his car and thought the better of it and joined us.
Farm plates, French toast, coffee. Visiting.
Then back over to Jeff and Susan's where the Sidis were produced and tried on (yup), and then secured to the rack with binders twine. Half hitches, for the knot geeks.
Time to get in the hill climb, so I headed through the park trails, ending up on Kaiser Rd, and turning right on NW Springville. 4.25 miles, 935 vertical feet, 33 minutes. I'll have to work on improving that. Right now I just grind up it. Then 2.5 miles further (more up and down) and then the paycheck descent down Thompson/McDaniel/119th.
Home just before 3pm. Would have been a few minutes sooner, but I stopped to chat with my neighbor.
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