Sunday, April 7, 2013

Justin's bday ride



Justin, Joe, Bill, Pat, me

Normally, being Sunday and all, I'd advocate for the SOS trail ride. But Pat pointed out that the weather wizards were saying 100% chance of rain. He further suggested that perhaps a be-fendered dirt/back-road ride might make more sense than a trail ride.


How right Pat was on both accounts. What's nice about a Sunday road ride is that it's more social than a trail ride. A guy can chat and carry on.

We didn't have much of a route planned -- except to go up Greenwood and tool around the dirt roads up there in that Deno/Euclid area. As we passed Euclid the rain had stopped for a minute, so we decided to loop it out around Riverside State Park, which requires a bit of trail riding to find the Centennial Trail.

Bill and Pat walking down the hill -- this was right after Bill slipped.
The trails were slippery, muddy, wet, etc. Our descent into the valley where Centennial Trail lives required traversing a trail that was rockier than I remember... assuming I was remembering the right descent. Anyway: lots of big bouldery wet round rocks littered the descent. I had worked on my bike last night, so of course my front brake failed as I tore down this section. Bill "slipped."

But it was it all worth it... it's nice to put some dirt and double-track on a ride, especially on Sundays. It feels right.

Paths like this are why I like finding a reason to cut through Riverside State Park.
Post-ride, Justin, Pat, and I celebrated Justin's bday by having him buy us breakfast at Central Foods. The rain picked up a tad as we ate and the wind knocked over our parked bikes.

That's all the relevant detail.

3 comments:

Jonathan Eberly said...

So jealous. Looks like you all had a great ride today. I am pretty sure had I been riding behind Bill he would have been Eberlized.

John Speare said...

Jon: no doubt about it.

Pat S said...

Nice recounting, John. Some rides are just special, and there's no way you can make them happen, but at least you can get better at recognizing them. I knew before I got home that this was one I will appreciate and remember for years. I could point to a number of conversations or events, but for instance, any time another restaurant patron gets up and walks over to your table to tell you that maybe you should go outside and check on the fact that your bikes and gear are blowing over and away in a hurricane, you know it's not just a another run-of-the-mill day.