Since I mentioned this ride as a source of finding the GPS documentary I posted earlier, I thought I should do justice to the ride too.
A group of almost 20 people showed up in Erin at Jouko and Robin’s place, greeted by freshly baked cookies and espresso shots before the 11AM start. Almost all were prepared for the ride and had brought CX bikes. The three exceptions were Ian (road bike) plus Andrea and me (MTB steeds). Ian’s choice was better.
Before agreeing to do the ride I made it known that I would be the slow guy and it only took one hill for me to realize how out of shape I was. By the second hill I got a push to try to stay in contact and before the 3rd hill I decided to do my own ride. That was the right choice.
I still rode for almost 2 1/2 hours, my legs were spent by the end of it, and I was very pleased to have accomplished what I did. I even took a detour and did some double track that was pretty and technical. I got back a little before the shorter ride group, had time to get changed and not much more. And we all got treated to a feast!
Lots of great food, from lots of the people on the ride or their partners at home. And everyone had a tale to tell about their day, it was a perfect day for an end of season ride. Not the “HTFU” epic it could have been but there have been enough of those this year already. I’d call it a perfect autumn ride.
And here are a few photos from the day. I’m glad I took some pics early, I spent most of the ride on my own (happily doing whatever I wanted at whatever pace I felt like doing it at).
