Leaves are Falling

The temperature was a good 20 degrees warmer this morning when we set out riding, than it was last Saturday. That’s partially due to warmer weather this week, but also to Alice’s good sense to start riding at 9 AM (which would have been 10 last Saturday) . This gave the sun a shot at taking the chill off things. The shady areas were still certainly cool enough and I felt very comfy all day with a thin wool long sleeve base layer and a short sleeve jersey over it. Wind jackets build up too much sweat inside, which soaks the clothes and makes me colder. Wool breathes and wicks away moisture. Just as it is cooling in the summer, it’s plenty warm in the winter.

6 other Club Lite riders came in answer to Alice’s clarion call. 3 other cyclists exchanged greetings with us, but they had further and faster plans than we did. I hadn’t seen a couple of the Club Lite people for quite a while, so it was good to be together on a ride once again. Michelle is back at it after her bout with an as yet cause undefined abdominal infection. After her many protestations that she was “just easing back in to riding” she was so far out ahead of us, it was ridiculous. She lopes along at 20 mph. Imagine if she TRAINED. Another one off medical leave is Mary. She too was happy to be aboard the bike again. I think that had she not decided to toss her chain off, she might have raced away with Michelle. Mary is one of those “sneaky fast” riders. Talks to you all nice and sweet, and then woosh! see ya, sucka! I truly enjoyed conversing with each rider as we shifted around and ended up together for long enough to chat. It was surprising to hear that people who were surely on the other side of the political spectrum from me chose the same or most of the same candidates that I did. The big topic on everyone's minds is the economy. It affects everyone, but not all in the same way.

The day was absolutely gorgeous. Blue skies, just like Skynard sang of, and nice colors (courtesy of more rainfall this year). Winds were calm when we started, but picked up to a steady 15ish with gusts to 20 (headwinds of course!) at the end. I snapped some pictures along the way, and rather than comment on them, some are just below. All these and more can be found on Flickr as well.

This was the first run on the NXO-B (the red bike) with a changed out crankset and rear gears. It came set up like a criterium racer and the gearing was too tall for me anyway, let alone dragging up hills. The front has a Campy Veloce compact now and the rear has larger gears. Hills were much

better today and I really liked the bike.

There were a number of highlights and I would be remiss to omit mention of them.

Michelle treated everyone to bananas at the Ramer Store.

I learned that Mosely’s store in Pintlala has a WINE TASTING. I shudder to think where they grow the grapes for that.

Phillip went to get a bottle of wine for Alice to note her birthday today, but came back with a beer instead. Happy BD no matter what, Alice!!

And the highest highlight….. Tommy was wearing wool socks

Final tally was about 35 miles at 14.2 mph for me. I’m already looking forward to the relaxer ride tomorrow.