Wanted: Honest B+ Ride Leader for Cranbury Sundays

13 November 2014

After both of our fathers wound up hospitalized on the same weekend, Ed and I bagged our planned Bloomsbury adventure.

Instead, I headed to Winter Larry's ride.  During the week he'd seen a Craigslist announcement about a bakery opening in New Egypt. The ad didn't list a name, address, or phone number, which was slightly suspicious.  A Google search turned up nothing.  To be on the safe side, Larry opted for Emery's Berry Patch.

I warned him that, as rest stops go, this is not a very good one.  There's nothing hot to drink, the cold drinks are bottled water or apple cider, and the bathroom is a porta-john.  There's nowhere to sit after one walks ones' bike through the gravel lot, either.  The muffins are good, though.

Carved propane tanks:

On the way out of New Egypt, we searched Main Street and 528 for signs of a new bakery.  We didn't find anything.

When we reached 539 north of Allentown, Larry said, "Straight back."  We got into a paceline.  I got up front and started pulling.  As we passed the warehouses, I heard Waldorf yelling something. I looked back to see a tractor-trailer pulling into a warehouse entrance.  That wasn't what he was yelling about, it turns out.  What he was yelling was that we'd lost a couple of riders, including Larry.  I didn't hear it. Nobody behind me passed the information up.  I kept on pulling.

Five miles and one traffic light later we figured it out.  Yep.  I was the pace-pusher on the Macho Mile. I pushed the pace all the way to the true B that Back By Lunch is advertised to be.

As soon as Larry pulled into the parking lot -- mere minutes after we did -- I apologized. Maybe I should start wearing my hearing aids on bike rides.  Larry didn't seem upset.  He hadn't been on a bike in a while; he'd been feeling out of shape.  Everybody has bad days.

It's not helping much that some of the B+ riders from the Sunday Etra crowd have been showing up for Larry's rides lately.  Those who can keep an honest B+ pace are prone to take off as soon as the route home becomes obvious.

Winter Larry is asking for an honest B+ leader to help him out on Sunday mornings.  I know some of you could do that, easy.  Think about it.

A few days ago I re-opened Larry's email about the bakery.  I  clicked on the Craigslist link.  The ad had been flagged and removed.  I think it was a different kind of bakery, if you know what I mean.