Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Too Cool for School Ride - August 31, 2022

 RIDE REPORT


Wednesday, 31 August 2022, Too Cool for School

Ride Leader:  Jack Donohue

31 miles, 10:00 am start from Bedford, MA


Riders (15):  Jack, Barry Nelson, Bernie Mango, Betty Salzberg, Bill Widnall, Curt Dudley-Marling, Gary Williams, Gerry Sheetoo, Hugh Folsom, Joan Fenster, Linda Nelson, Renee Rees, Sue Amsel, Ted Finch, and first-timer Gary Braver.


We had yet another perfect day for cycling.  In fact, it was even more perfect (grammar police?) than the day before, since the temperature was a bit lower and the dreaded humidity was down.  Nonetheless, I approached the ride with fear and trepidation since all the attendees had declared their average speed and it was faster than mine.  No matter, anyone in front of me was on their own and, as leader, I just had to make sure no one was abandoned and got lost.

My other concern was navigation.  Full disclosure:  I have no sense of direction.  Without my GPS I am lost, literally.  I pretty much never leave the house without my trusty RideWithGPS phone app.  I hadn't ridden the route since last year and I had a really sketchy idea of where it went.

What would happen if the leader got lost?  In days of old, all would be lost since no one but the leader knew the route.  Nowadays, with most riders having GPS, you can probably muddle through with crowdsourcing.

Everything was going just ducky, navigation-wise, when we encountered a detour in West Concord.  My GPS and I do just fine as long as we follow the prescribed route.  Stray off the little blue line and I might as well be in darkest Africa.  The RideWithGPS app has a new feature to reroute you when you stray off course, but I'd never used it and didn't want to try mid-ride.  Fortunately, not everyone is as directionally challenged as I am, and someone in the group found our way back to Laws Brook Road.


We passed the four advertised School Streets, though one was in fact a School Way.  Close enough.


Report by Jack Donohue.



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