I only got in ten miles of riding last week due to family and work commitments as well as regular thunderstorms, so I was looking forward to today’s ride. I had originally planned to do this ride at the end of June, so I planned an early start of 8:30 AM to beat the heat. It turned out that even though the ride was much earlier in the month than originally planned, it still was not early enough to beat the heat. George’s computer was registering 99º F regularly on the second half of the ride.
George showed me this route a couple of years ago, but he has not lead the ride yet. He wouldn’t even need to write a cue sheet. In a fit of desperation rather than inspiration, I named it Jefferson-Adamstown-Buckystown. I should have named it All the Hills That Mike Can Handle.
Colm, Doug, George, Jeff, Joyce, Martha, Ray, and I were ready to go at 8:20 AM, but we waited until 8:30 AM hoping a few more people might show up. When no one did, we took off and headed south on Ballenger Creek until we reached Capstine Road. We then turned back to the north on Capstine Road. This part of the ride has big loops to pile up a few miles while people warm up. Like we needed to warm up today. On Capstine we ran into Chuck who showed up a few minutes after we left and figured out how to run into us without chasing us. Chuck rides those roads regularly, and he knows his way around.
The group stayed pretty tightly packed until we started the climb on Jefferson Pike going into Jefferson. At this point we spread out a bit. I pulled a Big Brown at the Belmont and watched the pack go by me. Marlu Ridge went by uneventfully. We climbed up slowly, not appreciating the scenery fully, and then raced down the other side.
We stopped to regroup at Lily Pons and Park Mills and a young couple on some nice shiny new Jamis bikes stopped and asked us about the hill on Park Mills. We told them it was steep but manageable. We left them thinking about and did not see them again until we were all sitting in front of the Flint Hill General Store at the top of the hill taking a refreshment break. It took them a long time to make it up the hill, but they seemed less bedraggled than we were when they did reach the top. Maybe those new bikes have a great-granny gear.
This ride always seems to fall apart at the end. The finish is close enough to town that many folks just head directly home instead of returning to the ride start. Last year we had people breaking off at several different points, and I lost track of who was still returning the start. We lost track of Chuck last year and only figured out he made it back when we discovered his truck was gone. This year I stayed at the back of pack, so if anyone had a breakdown I would know it. Although Chuck and I did take a shortcut at the last mile, so we could avoid the last little hill. I had had enough of hills at that point, and it was getting hotter.
The temperatures were higher than ideal, but everyone seemed to handle them well. On the two mile ride home from the ride starting point, I was really starting to feel the sun roasting me. I am glad we finished when we did.