Lost Boys (& Girls)

The talk prior to Tuesday's Canal ride was about a person wearing a Kenda jersey having been observed pushing a bike up Rocky.  When I heard this, I was astounded that someone would be perpetrating such myths and worked my way up the rumor chain until I arrived at the originator of the story.  I listened to the explanation and then called him a dirty rotten liar!  Kenda Janet would never be forced to unclip under any circumstances. Fast forward to Saturday, I found myself parked next to the Kendamobile and from it popped Kendas Janet and Paul.  After some small talk, I worked in Tuesday's rumor and assured Janet I had vigorously defended her.  However, she was a bit circumspect with her response and even after specifically asking her, "Janet, do you categorically deny the claim?" her reply was so vague that it reminded me of a master politician who keeps talking and talking yet the listener having no idea on which side of an issue the politico stands.  Then, get this!!!  She verbally attacked me in front of a large group about putting too much personal information in MY blog.  Apparently, Janet is also sly and devious and assumed I would put something about this exchange in here and of course I must.  My duty is to search for the truth no matter where it goes.  So, I am reporting only the truth, as I know it and I suspect, in fact, Kenda Janet DID unclip.  

The turnout for Bruce's Gambier Roving Ride was pretty good with around 35 people showing up, including Larry P and Lisa.  Here, Larry removes all their cycling gear because once he navigated the car into a tight space there would be no room to open the doors beyond a crack.

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Jeff S, a high volume user of sun block, amidst some of the 35 other arrivals for the Gambier Roving Ride.

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Recumbent Dude arrived with everything but his front wheel.  How stupid is that?....oh wait....not very. I think this actually shows those of us with very busy professional and private lives can't always remember to pack everything.  It is those of you who lead boring, uneventful lives who can remember all your gear, all the time.

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We jumped onto the bike path and stayed on it all the way to Danville, about 9 miles.  Grand Poobah took an extremely long pull and after the first 1/2 mile, I rode up and asked if he was feeling ok.  The path is in great condition but I'm always jumpy when passing all the adults and kids on their hybrid bikes.  You never know when little Johnny becomes distracted and veers left of center. Eventually, we reached real roads but then, had trouble staying on the route.  I don't know when we left the route and I don't know when we regained it but at some point we got on Jelloway and stopped at rt. #3.  Someone said Kenda Paul led us astray but that was just another baseless jab at a Kendaite.  At some point, route making duties were turned over to Larry P and he led us on an odyssey of gravel/packed dirt roads.  In this image, we are stopped (again) to try to figure out where we are and how to get out of here.   

After turning onto and riding THREE "roads" we finally came out on a paved road and you won't believe me but on Wally Road we passed Wally World, some kind of motel/camping area.  I swear, the Griswalds passed us at some point.  Then we turned onto another gravel road but thankfully spotted a local couple who directed us to stay on Wally Road and after several transitions from packed dirt to pavement, we arrived in Greer and then later Glenmont where some of us stopped at a biker bar/restaurant and had some very tasty hamburgers.  Here, Steve O, Poobah, Flyin Tuna, brain damaged Gary and Jeff S stopped for the high quality food while SuperDave, Kenda Janet and Paul, Katherine and 3 others snacked and continued.   We finally packed up and headed up a long hill that will forever be known as Cheeseburger Hill because most of us felt like giving up the contents of our stomachs by the time we reached the top.  Eventually, we reached 715 where Kenda Poobah headed west and I joined him to make sure he got back ok.  We caught up with the other group that had not stopped in Glenmont and headed on to Howard and finally, finally Gambier. With the short-cut, we finished with 68 miles but it took around 6 hours to cover that with all the stops and starts.  Steve and his small band ended up with 78 so by getting off the route, we added 14 miles since the original route was to be 64. Note to future roving ride leaders, when creating a ride in unfamiliar territory, it would be very helpful to have road markings since none of us can read a map. Ended up with 3900' of climbing.  Beautiful route once we transitioned off the bike path.

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