Tuesday Ride Report

The day began like most others, turning this into.....

....this. I know what you're thinking, a sophisticated guy like me probably has an upright splitter and merely has to roll a log into it and let the machine do all the work but nooooooooo, it is with a maul and my spindly cycling arms that do the work.  I am hopeful it gets cold enough this weekend that I can start burning some of the many cords of wood stacked around here.  It's less than a month before I'll be basking in the sun in AZ so come on cold temps.  I've got wood to burn. 

The Navajo Nation rec department called me to say the permit for which I applied for the Salt River trail that leads to the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers has been declined for insufficient payment.  They raised the fee from $5 to $12 back in April but did not update the on-line form so would I be so kind as to send another money order for $7? 

I was late getting on the bike for the ride to the New Albany Tuesday ride behind Veloscience.  About 3 miles into the route, Tym Tyler pulled alongside and after exhausting the conversation I could think of nothing better to do then pull in behind him and ride him like a pony for about 12 miles.  Arrived in plenty of time to gather the valuable information you rely on me to gather and post here.  Don't press me to provide any examples of my assertion it just sounded good. 

The Tuesday New Albany route is the same each week.  I don't mind because I take different routes to ride over there and then it is always fun to talk to the usual suspects before riding out 161 and bugging out of the ride in Alexandria.  Having the same route each week does not require an official ride leader who has to plan routes and all that accompanies that.  Just show up and ride.  However, tonight, Jon Morgan did the inexplicable, he decided we would ride the route in reverse.  That suggestion had many of us blinking our eyes in shock.  It took a few minutes for us to get our hands around the concept.  You mean we can ride the route in the opposite direction?  Why yes, let's give it a go.  We departed as Doug McConaha and Joe scrambled to get ready, running a bit late.

So, upon reaching Mink off 161, we turned left, then right, eventually going up Caswell in to Johnstown and east on Concord, arriving at Northridge Road at what had been a moderate pace that kept everyone together.  Only 12 of us on the ride and the last ride will be the last Tuesday in September.  At Northridge, I turned right while the group continued on to Hardscrabble.  I finished with 43 miles.