We decided last second to gather our gear and head over to CR. We ended up meeting up with Carson who heard the bat call. Woody was around, and we ran into M3Tim in the lot and a big group of people. I wasn’t looking for blood (Woody was) but it was fun to just chill with a different group of people and cruise around. This was the first time on the single speed at CR since I got rid of the Cannondale, so It was going to be different for sure. Chatted with Carson most of the time and made funny noises. He looks really good on the bike. At least once he asked if I wanted to go around him, but had no need to.

By the end of the ride I really got back into the flow of it. Cleaned many of the things I had trouble with the last time on the single speed. My brain still remembers how to work this thing after all. I really like the way it fits me and how flickable it is. I’m trying to ride this exclusively for a while to get that feel back, especially before SSaP.

It was a really good social ride and felt good to hammer some of these climbs. Slammed some pizza at the local spot and shredded home.

The plan today is to head out to Halters for the other PFW A ride. I figured the first one would be the one to jump on. IMO, it would be the most gentlemen version of the ride to get in on. It is a brand new ride, so I don’t know what to expect. No one will have any words of wisdom. I contacted Rick (who leads the ride) and he gave me a outline of what he thinks it will be, but who really knows.

PFW A Ride

Tuesday’s plans kind of got jumbled around with work and having to take our cat to work. We aren’t suppose to have cats in our apartment. Apparently they had to check for cockroaches at our place. How they have cockroaches in a semi-new built apartment is beyond me. I ended up bailing on the HG A ride due to the running around and work schedule for the day. Thankfully I have a A ride out of my back door per say that has started in April out of Cranbury by the PFW guys. I was able to eat a homemade dinner and get to the lot 30 minutes before the ride start. I only knew a few people in the lot; Ben, Lou and Kastner. Recognized this other fellow from the last PFW ride, found out his name was Max. This is also the meeting spot for the B ride, so it is kind of hard to see who’s who.

The ride rolls out without much discussion; So we just have to figure out who’s leading what ride. Eventually the pace is picked up and the ride splits. I try to keep Lou in my sights. He seems comfortable in the paceline.

We cross over 33 and I still see Lou on the back. This little area is the only real noteworthy uphill of 100 feet. I’m leading up this “bump” and Max is behind me. I hear him, do my pull and move over. Quickly realize no one else is around, and just fall back in. Kind of crazy how 100 feet of elevation in less than a mile could hurt everyone else, but interesting none the less. We slow pedal to a stop sign shortly after the up-bump rise.

The only real noteworthy part after that was that 5 people finished with the main group. Not sure if everyone else went a different way, as the loops make all different turns in that area. No one really discussed a loop, but we were in the front so we were going the right way, right? It’s a really interesting area to ride as the roads are spidering all over the place. Roll back to the lot with just enough light to see without battery powered lights.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/164577847

As a first ride, this was very gentleman like and everyone tried the best to not have the ride blow to bits. Granted with a start of two groups, it is kind of hard to see where one started/ended. Overall it was a good experience and I seemed to work harder (read: Higher HR) on this ride than the HG rides. Maybe because I was pulling more with the group of five?

Smash some Cranbury Pizza afterwards with Ben and Lou and spoke about our experience today. Then a short 5 mile drive back home was the icing on the cake.

I will swap back and forth between these two rides, but a 4 mile drive from work/home for 2 more weeks is unbeatable. I will be back to HG for the elevation and friendly faces though.