Sunday Ride with No Ice Cream

Very light turnout for the Sunday, John Martin ride.  Asking around, it turns out the route was part of the problem.  Lon Hermann above in white discovered he had a flat just as we shoved off so we went from 14 to 13.

Although the quantity was down, the stars still came out including Marty, Dave C, Luke R and Lori N.  Luke is joining Marty for a gran fondo in CO next weekend and then on to the Hincapie Gran Fondo.   I'm forecasting that Luke will be low Ohioian at the Hincapie event.  At 5:06 at the Blood, Sweat & Gears, only 7 minutes off Marty's time, he has, I hear, only gotten stronger.  Plus, he has youth on his side. 

We departed Granville via the bike path, ugh.  Upon reaching Alexandria, we stayed on the bike path, double ugh. Above, Isaac on the left, Kathleen on the right.  Then on to Centerburg and out Croton Road for way too long, then on to Sycamore for mile after mile and eventually we arrived in Bladensburg for our first stop at mile 48.  Marty was up and rounding us up with the usual concern about lingering for too long although it is still not clear to me why lingering a little is such a bad thing.  Our average to this point was around 19.6 but the route was about to get much harder.  We left John & Anthony Sada behind as they had ordered a meal at the restaurant and because, as you know, lingering is not a good  thing.

The route had has taking the state route to Martinsburg but with better options available, we went south on Henpeck and west on Bell Church.  Maybe I had not lingered long enough because I was out the back of the pack by the time we got between the Bladensburg market and Bladensburg's only stop sign.  It got worse on Henpeck and worse yet on Bell Church.  My legs were powerless, weak, unresponsive, etc...  I chalked it up to lack of linger and an evening prior where I played wffleball and badminton at a party in which my wife's work friends came over.  You know, among 300 pound office workers, I am a dominant force.  So unlike the malnourished skinnies at our rides.

Arriving in Utica, I urged everyone to keep going so I could, well, add to my linger time.  Then, I took a more direct route to Granville and upon reaching the village, discovered Lori, Marty, Dave, Luke and Isaac eating ice cream.  Lori, the nutrition specialist, claimed there was broccoli in her ice cream.  Finished with 79 miles while the above good people had 88.