Random BTS gathering #1

Random meeting of Design Physics riders, an impromptu promotion to ride leader, and I got hit by animals again!

Every six weeks I have to carry the “on call” phone for work. I develop software that supports many business functions of a large retailer. So in order to make sure there is someone to fix something if it breaks we have a support phone that alerts us when problems need fixing. You never know when problems are going to happen.

This means I need to stay close to my car and my laptop. It really puts a damper on any scheduled bike riding such as races or team rides since I can’t commit to either when I have the phone. No me gusta.

I had the phone this week and had to miss Wednesday’s BTS ride and Toddy G rode away with double points!

I would have liked to lead a ride this weekend, but I could not commit to it because I did not know what was going to happen with the “phone”.

When I’m on call I usually ride alone, at a park where I can stay close to my car and laptop. So today I headed to poor farm again to ride the trail sections that dry out well.

As I unloaded my bike and geared up, I noticed a group of riders on the other side of the parking lot. I saw several kits I recognized. Carytown Bikes, Design Physics, and Jesse’s trademark polka dot pajama kit. I rolled over and saw that Jim Fisher and Byron were there. Now we had a random meeting of team riders.

As we rode the first section of trails, it was suggested that I lead because of the extensive poor farm trail maps I’ve burned into my brain. And so began Sunday’s random gathering of DP riders with me as the random ride leader for about 8 or 9 riders from all over RVA. We managed a good pace and flowed around the park for a couple of hours. It was much warmer than when I rode on Saturday when the temps barely got above freezing.

Jesse, Gary, and Me put in an extra credit lap for about 30 minutes. At one point I got rammed by couple large unleashed dogs that had started chasing and gnawing at each other. Luckily the three of us riders had almost come to a complete stop when the tangle of running k-9s careened into my front tire. They hit with enough force that the torque transmitted from my wheel to my handle bar jarred my shoulder and made it pretty sore.Too bad I did not have my GoPro this time! I'm a magnet for wildlife.

There was no more drama as we finished up a wonderful afternoon of impromptu riding. The phone did not pester me this time and I got to roll with some great riders. I really enjoyed catching up with some of RVA's finest cyclist out there on the trails.

Cheers!