Short ride here, too. 8 quick miles (13k). The rain/ice/sleet yesterday and last night had left the gravel roads half lake/half shoreline, which didn't seem to deter the troops of cyclists who emerged from self-imposed winter hibernation to make thin tracks, in various states of wobble, legibly etched into the wet gravel on every road in the neighborhood. They were out in droves only because the (0°c) freezing weather crap from yesterday had been replaced - by an apologetic Mother Nature - with a one-day-only deal: a balmy day of 50°f (10°c).
The photo below seemed to have been a familiar scene on just about every gravel road... downed trees from recent winds and bad weather lining the roads that their carcasses had been recently obstructing until our local VDOT could chainsaw the offending wood into stacks of splintered roadside logs.
No wonder most of the visiting roadies chose to stick to the less challenging paved roads today. Only the gravel bikers found the gravel roads entertaining and well worth the grimy effort. I noted that the gravel bikers rode more in packs today than solitary like me, yet all of us were on a race to get in as many miles as possible on this bonus day. The only concession to Winter was the brisk winds which, besides being cold and annoying, made it necessary for a ski jacket and warm gloves to be part of one's cycling attire if one wanted to remain toasty warm.
My goal was just a quick run around the block on my bike and then home to hop on my horse to meet up with another of my neighbors, E, on her horse to enjoy a slower, equine jaunt around the gravel roads of a different block. As my horse sauntered to a halt at E's driveway for us to wait for her (she was endeavoring to find a missing boot for her horse's hind foot and texted me it would be a few minutes before she made her appearance) her next door neighbor's husband, R, rolled by on his Mongoose. He stopped to chat and we spent the next couple of minutes swapping some cycling stories (he used to do some of the big well known multiday rides in various states around the U.S.) and lamenting the demise of all the 2020 bike rides (he had only gone to two before everything afterwards was cancelled. I told him I had managed to get in only one ride before all went to hell in a handbasket). By then E was strolling down her driveway on her horse, now suitably booted, to join the conversation. Since R had only just started back riding with a fitness goal in mind, which translated to just 5 miles that day in light of some kind of cronic knee injury (brought on by years of running, he said) which needed to be babied, I told him once he got up to 25 to 35 miles - easily several months down the road - to give me a call and we'd go cycling together. Unless, that is, I said pointedly, he got smart and got an electric bike, at which juncture I'd see him for a ride next week. He laughed, but I think he rode on home in front of us with a new idea tickling his brain.
A few moments later (E and I were barely past her driveway at this point) my cycling neighbor, G, caught up with us. She, too, was taking advantage of the rare afternoon. She actually lapped us a few miles later down the road (E and I were crawling at a 3mph walking stroll on our horses, so slow an energetic snail could have lapped us as well), and we all stopped to talk, again. G complained her hands were freezing by now and she had spent the last 10 miles dreaming of electric socks and electric gloves. E and I , on the other hand, were dressed for a blizzard, and thus were toasty warm. Actually, I was still in my cycling attire, having just jumped from the end of my ride on my chrome pony to a real one. G finally took off towards home to thaw her extremities and spend the remainder of the evening online searching to buy some electric socks and gloves for her next winter outing.
E and I sauntered on, stopping to talk with other neighbors out for a walk with friends and pets, and at least two young families out with baby carriages and family dogs on leashes. Walking the local gravel roads, for diversion or simply to get out and exercise, and perchance meet other neighbors for a bit of safe socializing, has become the favorite pastime since Covid decided to encamp in our area. We even saw R's wife coming home in her car. She stopped and rolled down her window to talk, and we told her we'd already passed R who was probably home by now. She sighed, and told us that since they've been locked down that riding his bike was his only outlet. She was happy to know he was out and about as she was just coming home from riding her horse - her main means of Covid relief. As she left to rejoin her hubby at home, E and I continued on, the miles slowly passing under hoof. At the crosstoads where we were going to part ways towards our respective farms, we did see one dad on his bike, patiently waiting with an indulgent smile as his little daughter stood and waved a bunch of dead grass over a paddock fence, hoping to entice a visit of a disinterested herd of goats on the far side of the paddock. The goats were ignoring her offering, which she promptly dropped on the ground once E and I strolled into view on our far more impressive horses. I looked around for the little girl's bike, but was astonished to see at her feet, lying sideways in the grass, a kiddie electric foot scooter instead. Her dad smiled up at us and said that she could really move along on it, easily outpacing him. Turns out they lived just a quarter mile down the road, so I'm sure I will be seeing him and his cute offspring again once the warmer weather rolls back around. Maybe by then she will have graduated to a bike.
The gravel roads will be quiet tomorrow. We're due for the return of cold weather, more rain, and possibly more ice.
Strava gave a realistic figure for my 2020 rides while RWGPS doubled the number!
(I'm the one in process simulation).
