Saturday Ride Report--Where is George

Good turnout for today's ride, another cold, dreary start.  For a change, wouldn't it be neat to start a ride in sun and warmth?  Maybe in June.  Twenty-two at the start, then a few people joined in rolling out...26 total.  Approximately 10 of us were racing tomorrow so the pace was almost guaranteed to be moderate and get this...it was.  Just a good group of people enjoyable to be around.

Someone said something funny cause Flyin Tuna thought it hilarious.  Mark V in the forefront.  He and wife are going to spend a couple of months in Tucson this winter, including March when I will be out there.  I'll work to show him a rattler.

We roll out into a medium stiff wind out of the east.  Among the luminaries who came out were Isaac, Danny A, Dirty Dan, Marty, Kim, Peggy & Gus, Meredith, Mark V, David Smith, Flyin Tuna, Ron, Luke & Lori, Doug M, Philippe, George, Tym & Lisa, John Sada, Brent Jenkins, Farmer Mike, Jay, etc...

We roll into Alexandria and note George out in front.  As he is inclined to do, he tries to get a head start on the hills and did so on Mounts, Hardscrabble...

....where we stopped to regroup while George went on to the Stone Quarry rollers.  Turning right on Northridge, those who were racing Sunday, headed back to the barn, reducing our number to 16. We rolled through SQ and closing on 661 via Dry Creek, a road that resembles roads around Normandy after the invasion (thanks to Isaac for the idea), Ron.....

...had a flat.  George, oblivious to this and wanting to maintain his gap on the Chattam Road climb, kept going.  Putting our break to productive use, Cindy tried to bring up weather radar on her smart phone but the technical difficulty of it was too much for her so I rode ahead to 661 where....

...others were waiting and there, Jay P concluded approaching rain required us to turn around. Note while we awaited the weather decision, I noted Isaac was the only person wearing "Laces" so not sure I should yet invest in a pair.  Later, some of us realized George was not with us and we hoped after he got to the top of Chattam, he would realize what had happened and turn back.  To be fair, some thought he would just keep going.  We finished with 44 miles, the last 1 mile in a spitting, light rain and hoped George would be ok.  I thought about driving the route in reverse to find him but realized he did not know the route and thus would not be following it. 

9:00am, from in front of the New Albany Starbucks, Saturday.  Lots of options for cutting the route short.  Should be a broad range of fitness and some of the stronger types are racing Sunday so their pace will be "moderate".  If you are an A, B+ or B cyclist, heck maybe even a C+ you should be comfortable but just in case it is otherwise, bring a map of one type or another.    
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/10532166