A Cold, Windy, Cloudy, Dreary Day for a Bike Ride

Upon arriving at the parking lot in New Albany, it was looking kind of bleak.  Flyin Tuna and Jeff S were sitting in their cars and making no effort to ready themselves for a ride.  After inquiring, they stated they were sitting tight and likely going to abandon.  Discouraged, I retreated to my car and called Kenda Janet to see if she and Paul were on their way.  Sadly, no, they had spit the bit.  Just then, Steve O arrived and so that spurred us to emerge from the comfort of our cars and began the ride readying process.  Within minutes, others arrived, including this new guy, Philippe, originally from France, transferred from Texas to our garden state.

Little Muscle Dude, John Day came out in conditions he probably judged to be balmy since he rode last Tuesday when the temperature was -3 with a wind chill of -27.  Only rode for 18 minutes that day but still, the toughness, coupled with the proper technical clothing, is admirable.

Wow, Hendra rolled in too with friend Joe.  Shaking visibly, it was easy to imagine Hendra recalling fondly his days riding in Indonesia where the temperature is a tad bit higher.  A total of 10 of us rolled out including Dirty Dan, among those not already mentioned.  Dirty is taking some heat from co-workers who have discovered his nick name and drawing inappropriate conclusions.  The nick name committee is considering a modification, maybe changing to "Dusty" instead of "Dirty".  Have to think about that.

A 33 degree start with fairly strong winds out of the SW.  The pace was reasonable with Hendra taking it easy on us and so too did everyone else who could have put a hurting on the weak and I.  We got on to Dutch Lane where John had a flat. Some of us kept rolling for a mile but then turned around to watch the flat fixing and doing so, turned in to a wicked, wicked head wind.  Immediately, some of us began second guessing the primary target of Utica and once John had his tire pumped back to life, Jeff, Flyin T and I headed south toward Alexandria and then back to New Albany, finishing with 39 miles.  Did not hear from the others but hope they had a good time on the 63 mile route. Ok, here is the route, http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3889773.