Tuesday morning?

Not many entries to this blog will be about me riding on a weekday morning. Hanging out at the Bikebeat the other day, Rick mentioned getting back on the mountain bike with a ride to Ipswich. Mentioning my vacation this week, and being available to join him and Carlos, I accepted their invitation. Sheri had no problem with me riding some on our vacation, she is cool like that.
The temperature at 7am froze at 28degs. Not thinking about the extra time to defrost my windshield, I was worried about running late. The cell phone buzzed about 7:20, Rick was running a little behind too. Arriving 5 minutes late, Rick pulls up right behind me. "Do you think Carlos will show?" Rick asks. "Lets call , you know he is still asleep!" I say with a devilish grin. Rick leaves a message on his voice mail, and soon Carlos calls back with groggy, just woken voice. He will meet us at the trail with Jerry. We head out.
It may have warmed a few degrees by 7:45, but my arms felt the wind chill despite having 2 long sleeve jerseys on. "Start out cold" I always tell myself, but how cold? Rick immediately informs me of the lack of computer on his mountain bike, which still is not a excuse to jump right into 20 miles an hour, as I was yelling from behind, " That's 20... that's 21!..." The traffic was heavier than I was used to. "Oh yeah, this is a weekday" I had to keep telling myself. These poor saps were going to work with heaters blowing like mad. I could only imagine what they must have thought of us. What could be better? Riding my bike, sun shining, tongue hanging out trying to keep up.
With no vehicular bike carrying devices waiting for us at the park, we decided to do a quick lap. The leaves still had frost on them, and were very slippery. Not a blistering lap, but successful anyway. Rick handled the transition back to off road well. Completing our first lap, we found 2 cars with empty bike racks. Lets go find them, but where? Those that have tried to navigate the many criss crossing and branching trails at Ipswich know this is easier said than done. Figuring them to be trying the newest creation, a ladder over a tree with a 6-7 foot drop, we short-cutted there. Silence filled the air. More short-cutting and long-cutting later, we found them back at the cars. I had my camera handy for some stunt photography. Even though we were trying to go directly to the first stunt, I wasn't ready for Jerry to fall as he broke his chain. Fortunately for him, I keep a chain tool in my pack. With the efficiency of a expert bike mechanic, Carlos had the chain whole in no time. It was after 9 at this point and Rick had to shower up and get smelling pretty by 10. We headed back. Fortunately for me the trip back is only 4 miles, I didn't even bother calling out speeds at this point. I was able to catch the draft most of the way.
Inside the shop, we basked in its relative warmth. Peeling layers, only to find how wet the inner most were. Carlos and Jerry soon arrived and Rick smelled good again. A bike test riding session soon ensued around the inside of the shop, until I dumped Jerry's bike and me on the floor. My bikes tires were nice and clean after the road ride back to the shop, therefore sticking nicely to the smooth floor that circles around the front desk. His bike, however, still had sand on the tires from its comfy ride back on top of a suv. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Remember the scene from "Home Alone" when the criminals slipped on all the marbles on the floor? You get the idea. Apologizing to Jerry, he was unfazed. This was not the first time this bike had hit the deck and would not be the last. We shot the proverbial bull for a while, until hunger drove me to drive home.