In more modern terms, the Group left, I stopped and went back to check to make sure I locked my car ( we were in Lenox after all.) and by the time I turned around the only one left was Shaun (ever faithful) . No problem, we could catch them we thought, we turned right on East Street and endevored to catch them. When we got to the Lenox Dale bridge we found nobody, nada, no Old Guy bikers or biker ladies. We were adrift in the Flotsam of Lenox Dale, riding up and down the street, looking, wondering. Where the hell everybody went.
The problem came when self doubt crept into our minds, there is an alternate route to down town Lenox Dale and we figured they may have taken that and were waiting at the bottom of the hill. So Shaun did loops looking for them.. I assigned myself at bridge to wait and see if they came the other way. After, what I thought was forever, we finally decided to call Paula. Paula always carries her cell phone, and it's one of those fancy waterproof ones, so she would surly have it on. Wow we were close to finding them, all we had to do is call Paula. So Shaun whats her number??? No clue. Great. So I called home, got her number, then called her. Phone was off. Great!!! Shaun left a message, saying "Paula, we are going to Lee, hope to see you there." About that time Nicki came over the bridge and rescued us. Turns out that they were up the road around the next bend, trying to call me on my cell; which was in the car back at Lenoxdale. (Well it was going to rain, and after last storm, the phone hasn't worked well yet.)
So what lesson did we learn out of that? Well I learned that I have remember Paula's cell phone number, and that I have to make sure she has her phone on before she leaves Parking lot. And I also have to learn not to get seperated in first 2 minutes, or I will be on my own for the 50+ mile ride. Truth be told if I were on my own down to Lee I would have come back because I had no clue as to the route.
Ok now the philisopical thoughts. Cell phones have only been around for about 10 years, and you know I can't remember how I operated without one. I've come to depend on it for a communication tool. I get so much accomplished at work by being contacted on my phone. Friday at 3:30 I got a call from work that I was able to resolve from the comfort of my wifes car while she was flying down Holmes Road. But what good are they if they are off, or somebody doesn't give you their number to call. Is there a 411 for cell phones?? Wonder how much that costs, might be a ton, and i'm not sure that Duk
e is worth that much. Just kidding Duke your priceless. So I've decided that I'm going to take my phone and be apart of the new age, even though there are no towers in Dalton, or Sandisfield, I'm going to have it on, ready to recieve new calls from lost bikers. Just Ride!!!The route was down to Sandisfield then back to Monterey, then down the hill to Lee. Great ride, tons of climbing. We started at teh Lenox High School. Ten people, Debby McI, Karen Mills, Mary Lou, Paula, and Nicki, Duke, Shaun, Dudly, Elmar, and Bryan. Once again 5 couples, non married to each other. Interesting still, but a great group.
It would have been a perfect day except for the fact that it was going to pour. I asked Duke last week to move the ride to Sunday because Saturdays forcast rotted. But he told me that what's a little rain. Typical Duke.. I didn't bother explaining to him that I hate cleaning my bike, that I really hate eating grit from road tires, that I really hate hitting pot holes that are full of water and you think is only an 1" deep and find out when you hit it that it's 6"s deep. And worst of all I really hate it when my chamois gets wet and it feels like a loaded diaper. At least what I think I remember what a loaded diaper feels like. But no matter we rode anyway, Just Ride is the mantra.
You know, as a blog writter I am finding it's much easier to get most of the material in the parking lot before the ride. This weekend was a typical example.
Those of you who are reading this blog are probably experienced bikers, and understand that the lycra bike shorts get thin with wear. You know thin enough to see through. In fact a number of years ago there was a gentle man that rode with use whose bike shorts were so thin he might as well not be wearing them. It was very tough to ride behind him, yet nobody would tell him that he was wearing see through shorts. Finally somebody, I can't remember whom, told him and that's all that it took, gone where the shorts, (well not then but the next ride.) Well I found out today that Mary Lou has been biking with a pair of thin shor
ts for awhile and somebody finally told her, she was naturally embarrassed. She bought new ones. You can check the new ones out in picture. Nice aren't they. She was quite embarrased about it and she was wondering why nobody told her. So she thought she would save $ and wondered if turning them inside out would work. Nah it didn't. But then she had better idea, go out and by black under pants. She said that didn't work out either.. Ouch..What is the biking ediquate of telling somebody about thin shorts? Well I guess there is a rule. Guys tell guys and Gals tell Gals. The rule makes sense, I would never tell Mary Lou that her shorts were so thin that they were transparent. If I said something I would be labeled a pervert. So Shaun told me the rule. You know Mary Lou I feel for you. A couple of months ago I put on some shorts that I modeled in front of my wife, asking if they were see through and she said they were fine. ( I think she wanted me to squeeze a couple more rides out of them before I plopped $45 dollars down on another pair of Pearl Izumes.) At the end of the ride, Shaun comes up to me and says "Bryan, don't wear those shorts again. They are too thin." I was totally embarrassed for two reasons. One my buddy road behind me on that ride, so now I'm totally embarrased that she didn't say anything and two Shaun waited to the last 5 miles to tell me. Great. So I feel for you Mary Lou, I know all about the thin short syndrome, and don't worry if I notice that your shorts are thin, I will tell you.................
I guess everybody was in good mood, because the parking lot discussions, continued with Deb asking me to post a Man Wanted ad. You know it's not a bad idea.. Deb is terrific biker and has her own bike, so a new guy wouldn't have to buy one for her. I spent part of the ride trying to find out her man requirements and didn't get past "Breathing" You know, that interesting, Deb needs to add "must be dancer" because Deb can flat out dance. Well Deb I don't know the type but if you want to be a little choosier (and no Elmar isn't available.) let me know.
Finally we all decided to check out Karens new shoes. They are truly girly shoes, baby blue. Cute. She got them at Performance Sports if you need a pair. Oh buy the way, check out her wound from the earlier blogs, healed. Yes!!!!Then finishing off the who
le lets talk before we ride thing, Shaun and Duke decided to tell everybody a story about the last Thursday night ride. For those of you who weren't there it started in Hinsdale then went up to East Windsor Road. A great down hill. Shaun and Duke said there were two Irish Setters racing them down the hill. The guys and the dogs were doing 35 miles per hour and Shaun was totally impressed. As you can tell from the picture, Shaun and Duke were trying to explain how they ran, I guess you should have been there to believe it.This was all just in the parking lot. I was writting so fast I couldn't get ready. But finally we left, not quite at 9. I already told you about getting lost. So when we finally grouped up we had lost a lot of time.
The ride to Sandisfield was nothing but up. We left Lenoxdale, then went down to rt 20 in Lee, did the rt 102 thing, then cut through Oak and Spruce, to rt 102 again, to Rt 7 in Stockbridge. At Monument Mtn HS we hung a left and cut over to Rt 23. From there it was all climbing all the way to Sandisfield/Monterey. I've heard that folks in Great Barrington start from the town and climb up to Sandisfield, and they call that the 11 mile climb. It's not very hard, but just takes forever. We climbed and climbed. I wondered when we were going to stop for a break.
Finally we did, in Sandisfield. The picture shows the group gathering around a bunch of signs, but we pretty well knew where we were going, up. This is route 57. Pretty scenic, I would have taken more pictures, but everybody just kept pedaling, and I hate stopping and then having to pedal like hell to catch up. So I only took a few pics.One other thing about this ride made it interesting. John C. was on his Pan Mass Bike Ride. We sorely missed him and thought that we should show how much by adding a picture of a barn in this Blog for him. What turned out to be a nice thought turned out to be a battle of which barn
should I take a picture of. All Shaun and Paula did was complain to me that I didnt get the right barn. But I didn't care, I knew what I was looking for and this is it John. We were thinking of you. All of us.When we finally got to Monterey we took a long needed rest. We all were wondering if the store was open. As you can see it was. It's pretty neat place, but they didn't have much pastry.
but that didn't matter we spent most of our time looking at people anyway. In this picture you can see Paula and Mary Lou resting up. The rest of the group stood next to the store and replenished their water supply. Every time I come to this store, I wonder where Dukes Green haired buddy is.What is it about this store? It brings out the weirdest people. Dudly brings out a purse he carries. Well let me tell you when Deb saw that purse she decided to scratch Dudly off the Man List. Frankly I thought the purse was kind of cute. Then Dudly starts talking about how he wants to milk a Lama. OMG what's up with that? Milk a Lama. Chet should have been with us, Chet likes Lauma's too, but I don't think Chet has a purse.
We were close to home and the rain about now. As soon as we left the store the rain started. It poured at times, and the road was very wet. It slowed me down that's for sure. But the others didn't seem to care, both Nicki and Duke broke 51 mph on the down hill. Holy Catfish Batman I was doing 45 and panicing. You go guys, but you remember that the Tyringham Ambulance Squad ain't the hottest.
Even in the pouring rain the ride was great. The last 15 miles it was every man for him/herself. It was pouring the roads were treacherous, and the potholes deep. I stopped in the middle of a down pour to take this picture. And everybody kept going but Shaun, he waited for me and escourted me back to the start. It was fitting, because he and I were alone at the beginning and we were alone at the end.
I should tell you that Shaun road an additional 14 miles to/from his house. You go guy.
The following pic is the Rooster.. See what you missed John???
