Late notice

 I was busily mapping a series of routes I will be riding in Southern California in a couple of weeks when a friend sent an email inviting me to ride.......in an hour. I communicated that I had to be finished by 4PM to allow me to get to an evening meeting.  Eric said that wouldn't be a problem.  It was just over 30 minutes to drive to the start, so I dropped what I was doing and rushed out.

I arrived a bit late, but luckily one of the other riders was even more late.

We ended up taking off about an hour later than planned.
Within just a couple of miles I took my eyes off the road for a couple of seconds and paid the price by hitting a rock between golf ball and tennis ball size dead on.  I stayed upright, surprisingly, but got a pinch flat. Now we had the penalty of a late start and a flat to contend with.

The group was a little bit slower on the ascents, and braked on the descent.  Throw in a couple of potty stops, and before long it was obvious I was going to have to pedal a bit to get back in time.  Eric and I had a discussion on the plan if we got too late. With an hour to go, and about 18 miles still to pedal, I began pedaling.  Not fast, but consistent.  I really expected my partners to keep up, but alas, within a mile they were no longer in sight.

I arrived back at 4:06pm, within time tolerance.  Today sunset was at 4:27PM, so hopefully they weren't too far behind me.  At least one of the riders did not have lights along.

Thanks to Eric for getting me out on the bike today, it was a good day for a ride!





 Static map view available HERE

...........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total Today...........39..............0.............0..........0............39 Jan..............105.............34............0..........0............139 Feb.............428............108...........0.........24...........536 March.........809..............0.............0.........22...........831 April.........1010..............0.............0...........0..........1010 May..........1000..............0............20........0............1020 June.........1500..............0.............0..........0............1500 July..........1558..............0.............0..........0............1558 Aug...........531..............0.............0...........0..............531 Sept..........730..............0.............0...........0..............730 Oct............844.............0.............0............0.............844 Nov...........835..............0.............0...........0.............835
 Dec............155..............0............0............0..............155  YTD.........9501.........142...........20.........46............9709