Saturday Ride Report--Bladensburg

Good turnout of about 25 for Marty's Ride from Granville to B-burg on some roads I and others have never ridden.  Above, Steve O, Rex, Dean, Dan, Lisa, Peggy & Mike.  Since I popped 2 more spokes during Thursday's ride, yeah, it's aggravating, I took advantage of Luke's generous offer to switch out my wheel for one of his.  Everything matched and other than the chain jumping a couple of times, it worked great. 

More of us gather awaiting Marty's signal that it is time to go and soon it's on and we are....

...headed out with reminders of an earlier shower.  A small group of us got hung up at a light in Granville but Steve O pulled us to the base of the Jones Road climb where we just about rejoined.  Along the way, there were many people giving us the thumbs up, waves and shouts of encouragement as they mistook us for the Pelotonians.  We headed east and upon reaching Montgomery Rd, turned left and hit a fairly significant hill.  I barely clung to the back of the group and when we passed a "Y" with Wilkens Run branching left, I wondered if those who had fallen back would know to veer right.  They did not so Dean, Rex, Farmer Mike, Peggy and Eric made the left but eventually ended up in B-burg.

We regrouped at Licking Valley Rd where just prior, I heard Luke say, "Ow, I just got stung in the nose by a bee." At the stop, with camera out, I asked which nose and just as he reached with index finger extended, he realized I was setting him up for a pic and stopped.  That guy is way too smart for me.  But benevolent too as later he dropped back to drag me back to the group.

Larry P, a prolific eater of bananas the peels of which too frequently end up on my car's windshield.  Unable to find Mike & the others, we rode on, eventually reaching B-burg at.....

....mile 40.  I was cooked and really dragged the previous 39 miles!  The store was overwhelmed so some of us hit the gas station instead and then came back to hang with the gang while watching....

...the world go by, sometimes slowly.

Well, it was time to head back out and round 9 of us took the right on Bell Church and the 67 mile option.  Reaching St Louisville, I was kind of hungry so stopped at yet another market for more calories and then headed toward Granville....

...where on Burg I encountered a steady stream of Pelotonians headed north.  I finished with 68 miles and 4200' of climbing.