Every year the local club has a"ride" meeting to review the club's schedule, policies and insurance. They make it fun, which means they bring beer. I admit the free beer was a motivator, but I also wanted to test the light installation on the Hunqapillar since I would be coming home in the dark. The ride was only about 5 miles, the weather a moderate temp, overcast with virtually no wind. In short, it was a great night to ride. The meeting room was at a hotel which had disguised the bike racks as ornamental trees to fit the landscape better.
I thought I must be early since mine was the only bike in sight, but found about 25 people inside chatting away and sampling the beer. Then I remembered, this was a ride meeting, not a ride! Why would they bring their bikes? I felt really silly for about a beer, then it went away.
This was the first ride meeting I had been to in a number of years since I had just moved back into town. I noticed this year they jumped right into how to group up their rides so nobody got dropped and they had nobody standing up insisting these rides "are not races." So safety concerns had moved them from denial to acceptance in my absence. Now we'll just have to see how we deal with multiple pelotons and breakaways in the same ra..oops ride. Maybe this year I will try a couple club rides and see if they're still as competitive as I remember.
The rest of the meeting was pretty social, one younger rider recommended everybody use lights even during the day. His were really bright, he makes them, and (surprise) he could make some for us. What a good chap!
After a little chit chat,I decided it was dark enough to ride home. The light salesman passed me riding a Trek Madone, and he was right, his lights were bright, almost too bright. I wish I had taken a photo. My own lights were no problem,I had to tighten the screw holding the dynamo once on the way home.
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