Ok, so where'd summer go?

  This past week in Michigan has produced cooler than normal temps, and although  fall is technically 3 days away, it felt like it was here.  Labor day has passed and not only is it unfashionable to wear white(like who in Kalamazoo gives a rat's ass), the official ride season is crawling to an end with the shorter days.  The club rides continue for a few more weeks and will start earlier and become shorter as the days do.
    Last weekend the KBC held it's annual anniversary ride.  It's a small party and picnic preceded by a selection of 15-35 mile rides.   I chose to ride the 22 mile route.  The group was small this year since it was cold (40 degrees) in the morning and we all started together at 10 am planning to return before noon.  On club rides, I usually choose the slowest rider in the group to draft and have a really pleasant ride sucking their wheel and no problem keeping up.  This day was different.  We started off briskly without a problem, then on the first set of small hills, I found I couldn't breathe.  I was sucking wind in the worst way and felt my pulse racing unexpectedly.  I suffer from some mild allergies but Allegra and some Zicam nasal spray usually keep me active without a problem.  Today my sinuses just clogged and to add to the problem, my sunglasses kept slipping down my nose and crimping my nostrils even tighter.  Well, the glasses came right off, and I spent about a mile clearing my sinuses on the little cotton backing of my gloves.  By then I was a good mile behind the main group and decided to settle in with Mike another o..., ol......, damn, can't say it...ah more mature fellow and we rode the rest of the way together at a leisurely 15-16 mph pace.  It was really pleasant to ride with somebody who was decidedly non-competitive and a chance to enjoy the cool weather and riding without gallons of sweat pouring out of me.
   Apparently we were the only ones riding the 22 mile route because we returned to the trailhead before anybody else.  The club president was just showing up with pizza and drinks, we helped him set up a table for serving the side dishes and the other riders began showing up.

There was a lot of jovial milling about and swapping of stories of the different charity rides we had participated in during the year.  One rider I had never seen, was frantically searching the Internet on his phone and finally, and somewhat predictably, announced to all within earshot that his new FELT frame was picked up for use by some pro team for the coming year.

I don't know what that means but he seemed relieved to be given a bit of social validation

that riding around in a BMW carrying two $6000 bikes just can't quite provide.