After-Work Ride

Some years ago, there were a few ride leaders in our club who capitalized on long summer days to organize regular after-work rides. For various reasons, those ride series faded away.

I dug up the route sheets I'd saved and studied old ride listings for hints about which ride to lead when. I was looking forward to reviving a series last summer, and then ... our world fell apart.

I consoled myself with mapping the routes and bided my time.

Which brings us to tonight, when our county is in a better place than we were a year ago. Though some restrictions remain in place, with clear guidelines our club rides have stayed safe.

Would anyone show up? [No, as it turned out.]

For this first week, I had chosen a route that I would comfortably ride alone. [Just in case.]

I know some people are reticent to ride late in the day, fearing traffic; I had wondered that myself, before I'd joined a few rides. It's dinnertime; these roads are not busy.

Out by the Guadalupe Reservoir (another harbinger of drought), I grew uneasy when I heard a man shouting incoherently. Barely clothed, I figured he was crazy; a passing cyclist suggested he was tripping. [Maybe, both?] I was relieved that he was on the far side of the reservoir.

This outing would be shorter than my routine after-work rides, but hillier: 18 miles, 1,320 feet of climbing.

Maybe next week someone will join me?