Just a short note on our Sunday afternoon "relaxer" ride. We had a new rider today. Her nickname is "Viper" and her auto tag is something like IRNGRL. So when she said, "Sure, 13-15 avg speed is fine with me. I haven't been on my bike in ages," I knew she was pulling my leg. Having watched other chiseled triathletes disappear into the distance ahead of me before, I knew the type. Jack and Therese know that I'll get wherever we're going, eventually, but they do make sure I'm not road kill every once in a while.
Anyway, we had great weather, if just a tad chilly in shorts and no jacket. As long as we were working, it was okay. We found it a little cold when we stopped though. I pulled a lot of the way out, with Jack doing a nice job the last part into Slapout. Jodi, as Viper is also known, was suitably impressed by Slapout, and we turned south to head home after a brief stop there. The headwind picked up and I offered to let others pull. "But YOU know the way Bruce," was the reply in unison. Uh huh. Jodi put me out of my misery after slogging a few miles behind me and scooted to the lead. She only needed to know where the next turn was. Trouble was, it was awfully hard for her to go SLOW enough so that I could hang with her. She really did try, but ....
Therese took a turn at the front after we passed the Elmore Store on the way home, and then I did some from Jenkins Brick until getting tired about a mile from the finish. I eased back to 13 until my legs got back to working again. I knew where the cars were parked that's for sure. The other 3 were, in fact, nice enough to let me catch them at the final traffic light.
We had a couple of spunky dogs run along side us, and the one which came closest to being a problem was a "battery operated size" mutt that looked like a bloated chiuaua. He finally decided that we weren't worth breaking a sweat over and disengaged from persuit.
The real excitement came after we got to the parking lot. When Viper fished her car key out, it was the wrong key. She thought it was her spare, but it was not. The car key was IN the locked, non-OnStar equipped car. Hmm, what to do, what to do? I mentioned to her that the Millbrook police station was only 100 yds away, and politely pointed out that the officers would get into a fistfight in order to be the one to help her in her moment of distress. Did I mention her long blonde hair? I apologized for being sexist, but said, "If you've got it, use it." She pedaled on over and about 30 seconds later, here comes an MPD squad car with a officer ready to render a citizen some assistance. Told Ya! (in a later email, she confirmed that the officer was able to get her car unlocked)
I expect Viper to be riding soon in the pack with our other tri training and other competing folks, at quicker pace than we "Lite" relaxers run, but she is welcome to come back any time, as is anyone who isn't out for a faster ride. We advertised this outing as 13 - 15 avg and I had 14.7 on my cyclometer for 33 miles. Between the headwind and a couple of not too bad hills, it really was a pleasant outing.
I'm already hoping for good weather next Saturday.
And, I am pleased to say that I have a 1st year custom Rivendell frameset coming my way. Someone on the RBW list got it but it was too small, and small is generally good for me. Anyway, we'll see how it builds up as a 650B. Yes it's steel (Reynolds 753 and 531), and yes it's fully lugged. Here's a link to show it looked when last built up in 2007 by a prior owner.
http://www.magnesium.net/~pdr/Rivendell/index.html
Anyway, we had great weather, if just a tad chilly in shorts and no jacket. As long as we were working, it was okay. We found it a little cold when we stopped though. I pulled a lot of the way out, with Jack doing a nice job the last part into Slapout. Jodi, as Viper is also known, was suitably impressed by Slapout, and we turned south to head home after a brief stop there. The headwind picked up and I offered to let others pull. "But YOU know the way Bruce," was the reply in unison. Uh huh. Jodi put me out of my misery after slogging a few miles behind me and scooted to the lead. She only needed to know where the next turn was. Trouble was, it was awfully hard for her to go SLOW enough so that I could hang with her. She really did try, but ....
Therese took a turn at the front after we passed the Elmore Store on the way home, and then I did some from Jenkins Brick until getting tired about a mile from the finish. I eased back to 13 until my legs got back to working again. I knew where the cars were parked that's for sure. The other 3 were, in fact, nice enough to let me catch them at the final traffic light.
We had a couple of spunky dogs run along side us, and the one which came closest to being a problem was a "battery operated size" mutt that looked like a bloated chiuaua. He finally decided that we weren't worth breaking a sweat over and disengaged from persuit.
The real excitement came after we got to the parking lot. When Viper fished her car key out, it was the wrong key. She thought it was her spare, but it was not. The car key was IN the locked, non-OnStar equipped car. Hmm, what to do, what to do? I mentioned to her that the Millbrook police station was only 100 yds away, and politely pointed out that the officers would get into a fistfight in order to be the one to help her in her moment of distress. Did I mention her long blonde hair? I apologized for being sexist, but said, "If you've got it, use it." She pedaled on over and about 30 seconds later, here comes an MPD squad car with a officer ready to render a citizen some assistance. Told Ya! (in a later email, she confirmed that the officer was able to get her car unlocked)
I expect Viper to be riding soon in the pack with our other tri training and other competing folks, at quicker pace than we "Lite" relaxers run, but she is welcome to come back any time, as is anyone who isn't out for a faster ride. We advertised this outing as 13 - 15 avg and I had 14.7 on my cyclometer for 33 miles. Between the headwind and a couple of not too bad hills, it really was a pleasant outing.
I'm already hoping for good weather next Saturday.
And, I am pleased to say that I have a 1st year custom Rivendell frameset coming my way. Someone on the RBW list got it but it was too small, and small is generally good for me. Anyway, we'll see how it builds up as a 650B. Yes it's steel (Reynolds 753 and 531), and yes it's fully lugged. Here's a link to show it looked when last built up in 2007 by a prior owner.
http://www.magnesium.net/~pdr/Rivendell/index.html
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