Recovery Ride with Pig

Bovine Ennui

11 October 2019

Plain Jim being otherwise occupied, I listed a recovery ride for last Sunday. To the annoyance of one registered rider, I had only a vague idea of where we'd go. The only thing I new for sure was that I had to get us back to the Pig with enough time to hang out before the noon closing time.

Ricky and Andy M rode with me from my house to the Pig, where we met up with Martin and Luis (the only true export from Plain Jim's Sunday rides). They'd ridden in from home too. I get a lot of that when I lead from Pennington.

I improvised around the old Friday night route, which also serves as my solo recovery route.

We were at the intersection of Province Line and Rosedale Roads when Martin asked where Jim was. "Working," I told him.

"That's too bad," Martin said. "I was hoping to be in two blogs."

"I'll see what I can do," I told him.

The first photo stop was on Titus Mill Road near Route 31, where a flock of geese poked up from a field of grass.

On Woosamonsa Road we came across several cows expressing an outsized dose of ennui.

"Is it gonna rain?" Martin asked. "They say when cows lie down."

I told him about the guy on one of my rides years ago who suggested that the cows might be recovering from whatever they did last night.

"And they're not talking, the cows," Martin added.

"Hey," I said. "What happens in the pasture stays in the pasture." By this point, Ricky, Andy, and Luis were circling at Burd, waiting for instructions. We went up Woosamonsa and all the way down Bear Tavern to Jacob's Creek, where I haven't been in years. I'd forgotten how pretty it is.

I got us back to the Pig at 11:40 with 29 miles. One rider complained about the short distance. "I'm off by a mile," I said. "Report me to the Board." Besides, we'd all ridden in; we would all have over 40 miles by the time we got home.

We went inside and stayed there almost until noon.

Jim is away this coming Sunday, so I listed this ride again. It's going to be short again because I have to be somewhere in the early afternoon. I'll get back to my typical Slug slogs the next time I lead.