Fantastic! I would also skip the bar and the weed but this sounds like a blast of a ride! Doug
On Thursday, August 1, 2024 at 6:41:10 PM UTC-4 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > I have long wished to do the Grand Rapids Wednesday Evening Ride. My Riv > buddy, J, co-leads it, and the routes are ever-changing and FUN. Maybe you > storm the castle. Maybe you end up in a river. Wind up in a kickball > tournament. It isn’t convenient - it’s an hour’s drive, and starts after > 8pm. A ride that starts after 8!!! On a Wednesday! But those GR folks > know how to do it. > > > Last night, I made it. Beginning in the heart of GR, we would ride a 16 mi > route in urban and rural landscapes. A variety of bikes were represented; > cobbled-together builds, vintage bikes, bikepacking and touring bikes, > fixies, hybrids, whatever those bikes are that you ride on the rear wheel, > and one Platypus. Not represented: high-tech carbon fiber/time trial bikes > with roadies astride them. The reason would soon become apparent. > > > We set off. Bikes were all over the road. “The kids”, a group of teens who > ride their rear wheels set themselves up as “blockers” so we could move > through intersections. The drivers seemed unbothered. J said, “Leah, I > forgot to tell you we are going to blow red lights. The police prefer we do > so we stay in one group.” The ride has been going for 20 years, so I guess > the drivers expect this. I did as I was told, casting nervous glances over > my shoulder at J. > > > [image: image0.jpeg] > > > Most of my miles come from club rides. Club rides prize order, > communication, pace, predictability. This ride was a free-for-all. Jubilant > and raucous. Music blared from speakers strapped to frames. People sipped > beer. The scent of weed hung in the air. The Kids zipped about on one > wheel. We had two crashes in the first 20 minutes. I vacillated between > having fun and feeling terrified. > > > One minute we were in the city, the next we were in the woods on a paved > trail, bodies of water surrounding us. The sounds of the creatures in the > woods were as loud as the music on the bikes. We sailed over bridges, > veered off onto gravel, our giant band of bikes wending its way along the > route. It was gorgeous. > > > [image: image1.jpeg] > > > We stopped at a giant pavilion, strung with outdoor lights, and > rabblerousing ensued. People laughed and visited, music played, fireflies > flickered overhead. At nearly 10 pm, in the pitch black of night, they > mounted their bikes, got back on the trail and planned to end at a bar. > > > [image: image2.jpeg] > > > The woods felt like they were closing in on us. Like that scene in The > Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It was THRILLING, and I smiled to myself in the > dark. Suddenly there was yelling at the front and SLOWING….I couldn’t make > out the word at first. SKUNK!!! An actual skunk was running along the path. > We dared not pass him for fear of smelling more like skunk than the weed > smoke had already done to us. > > > I skipped the bar; J rode me to my truck and helped me load my Platypus. > The Platypus was perfect for this; chunky tires and compact size, front and > rear dyno lights, resplendent in color and quite the conversation starter. > > > [image: image4.jpeg] > > I got home at midnight; my teenagers were waiting up for me. If they had > walked in the door smelling like I did, I’d have grounded them on the spot. > > > > 10/10 would do again. > > > Note: I was stone-cold sober, putting TWO electrolyte tabs in my water was > as wild as I got. Lest you think poorly of me. 😊 > > On Aug 1, 2024, at 6:18 PM, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! <jonasa...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > People here are always posting about their “ride reports.” Something > enchanting in some far away place with photos that pose the bike JUST SO… > > > But yesterday I went wilding and I’m going to give you a DIFFERENT kind of > Ride Report. > > In the next post, though, because you know how I do it… > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/cCwFnSHq_zc/unsubscribe > . > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/dd01d4ec-2303-4e8e-ba92-9218776e5814n%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/dd01d4ec-2303-4e8e-ba92-9218776e5814n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/65c7463b-233c-405f-be24-29ffe29ff834n%40googlegroups.com.
