For some reason there is this weird karma with my Sunday rides. (oh no, Barry....here' s your opening!) The good news is, I made it back safe and sound from our 32 mile ride this morning. However, there was trouble on the road. I will get to that shortly.
Today dawned bright and sunny despite the NWS forecast of "cloudy". There was little or no wind and the temperatures were slowly rising into the low-80's. Humidity was low for Virginia at about 58%. Bates, Aden and I decided to do the "Moonshine Mountain > Tatum School Loop", leaving from the top of Moonshine Mtn. Virginia is so lush and green now; we have had just enough rain to make the vegetation happy. We rode past fields of cattle with new baby calves, past fields of newly baled hay and past flower gardens full of black-eyed Susans. The Clydesdale farm has two mares with foals out by the road - talk about cute! Oh my, those 500 lb. babies are adorable. As Aden said, it looked like a post card.
The ride was uneventful with lots of fun downhills (followed by some "ups) when 23 miles into the ride I heard a clanking noise and some four letter words from behind me. I turned to see Aden and Bates off their bikes and in conference with one another - and looking at Aden's bike. It seems somehow his rear derailleur exploded. Sort of. I have no other way of putting it. It was in pieces on the road and hanging by a thread...uh....cable....but not attached to the bike frame any more. There was one broken spoke and another bent, and the poor rear wheel was way out of true. Despite valiant efforts by Bates "MacGyver" McLain, Aden was done for the day. We left him sitting in a yard under a big oak tree, as we pedaled for home. Bates took off to pick him up.
That's all I know, so I will let Aden or Bates (or both) pick up the story from here.
Regarding the weird karma, that is for another post - stay tuned - I will tell the story of the "Three Stooges Ride" from last Sunday soon. For now I will get off here and go clean my bike. I love a shiny, clean bike! Ride safe out there!
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You've GOT to be kidding?!! Aden sounds unsafe at any speed, LOL!
I managed to squeeze in a short 16-miler this evening between departures and arrivals of storm fronts. At one point, I came to a quick halt to expedite a box turtle's slow-but-steady migration across Red Hill Road---I couldn't bear the thought of him getting squished by a car just when he was within spitting distance of his finish line!
When I made it to my own finish line a half hour later, I stowed the bike and drove to the very pretty, small pond on Edge Valley Road, where I let my patient, long-suffering pooch out of the truck to dawdle along the water's edge for a bit. While we were scouting for frogs and other aquatic fauna, a big (and quite beautiful) thunderhead came sailing in majestically from the west, a signal to scurry back to the truck and head home. All in all a nice (and accident-free!) outing on a pretty Sunday evening.
I hope the two other Stooges made it home in good shape and that Aden's AWOL derailleur can be rescued....!
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