Mama Told Me Not To Come

I have to credit Jeff S with the title, after an old rock song from Three Dog Night.  Instead of waking up every 2 hours as I have done for the last 2 days, I slept like a hibernating raccoon all night and when the alarm rang, I felt ok and decided to head to Canal.  As a demonstration to Nathan, my cub reporter, I am going to give him a lesson in concision so will not do 2 things, blather endlessly and make vicious, personal attacks against one of the most venerable and respected members of the group, as Nathan so callously did while describing Mr. Allens pre-ride ramblings...errr.....I mean concise and very articulate route description.  Cut him some slack Nathan, while it is true he usually does not send the group off on time, rarely does he send us off any later than 30 minutes after the official start time either! Bob, I've got your back.

While putting on  my  helmet and gloves, the ground began to rumble and at first I thought, "Earthquake!" but turned to see Mark and Karen's tandem had fallen over.  That thing is heavy.

---

Amanda, showing off her guns but what I noticed was the farmer's tan.  She rode a 200k yesterday without sunscreen. 

---

As the group scold, I have to call out Amanda for ignoring another venerable member's (Steve) instructions to ride single file out of town.  This flagrant disregard for the orders of the wise and learned men, as well as making fun of them, should not be encouraged.

---

We rode east, well past Lancaster, made a right on Lake and a right on Duffy and arrived in Lancaster.  I was doing ok until just before the turn onto Duffy when I began to falter so I dropped off and soft pedaled into the 4 Reasons.  There, the conversation was about bicycle bags and their size.  Jeff S volunteered that when he first joined the group he rode with a rack on the back and a pair of saddlebags.  Someone else noted that Cindy B used to ride with a large piece of Samsonite luggage on the front and an equally heavy piece under her seat.  She claimed the large bag up front was a good thing to draft behind?!?!? I was reminded that she also had planned for all eventualities when planning the packing of the bags and was prepared for a snow storm even in July. She is somewhat wiser now.  

We had a great time at lunch and then someone ruined it by suggesting we head back.  I was a basket case on the ride back even though Jeff kept the pace low.  My endurance and small strength has taken a serious hit.  Probably too was a shock of going from lying around for over a week because of rain. cold and illness and then riding at 80+ degrees and high humidity.  Anyway, we made it back to Cyclist Connection with 56 miles and 2700' of climbing. I staggered to my car, threw everything in, declined an invite to dine at Dairy Queen and drove home where I staggered into the house and gave strong consideration to picking up fishing.

---