I rode a grueling lunch ride on Monday – using a route I rode before that goes out Old Vincennes to Old Hill Road. It is a large opening climb followed by heavy rolling hills and ends with a return on the hated Green Valley Road. It was only around 14 miles but quite taxing. It turns out I was coming down with a cold. By Monday night I had developed a fever. I limped in for half a day on Tuesday but headed home and missed Wednesday. By Thursday I was better and looking forward to the ride on Friday night. Thursday morning we had an opening temp of 0 but it was supposed to rise to 17 for Friday night.

I drove over to Tim’s house to get started around 7:30. I had three shirts and a jacket on, 2 pairs of pants and three pairs of socks. Plenty of wool to go around. Shortly after we took off I realized my glove strategy was a failure. Tim had an extra set that fixed it though. We took a nice roll straight down Bardstown Road but looped over to Cherokee for the last bit before getting to the shop. We hung out for awhile and had a beer and some coffee. We were getting antsy by 9 when we finally left to ride out. The plan was a short ride over towards River Road and back. About 15 of us headed out although it broke up quickly and Tim and I stayed toward the front pack of 5 riders total. This was my first attempt at any type of “pack” riding and it was a little nerve wracking. Especially since it was quite dark and the bundling up made peripheral sight harder. I got over it quickly and we rode to Hillcrest. As we politely made our way down towards River Road with head and tail lights blazing a driver yelled at us to get on the sidewalk. An eloquent rider in our party opined “Fuck You”. On we went…

By this time the cold had set into my feet but otherwise I was really quite comfortable. We were down to four riders – Tim on a SS, Aaron on a Fixie, and myself and another on geared road bikes. We all had headlights but I had a powerful NiteRider light on loan from Tim. We rode through Mockingbird and it was one of the greatest bike experiences I have had. We moved in almost a surreal path – I stayed generally in the back and bathed the pack with light. The road is beautifully paved and it was almost completely silent. It was nearly like riding in some deserted land. The whole night was great but this was worth it all.

From there it was just a ride back to the shop for a little beer and to watch crazy fixie videos. we hung out for a bit and then took a nice ride home.

Tim recapped his story here. The ride organizer recapped here.

I think overall both Tim and I were surprised at how fast the ride broke apart. We were probably fooling ourselves that it would be some sort of proletariat ride making sure everyone stayed together. After all the core group are pretty aggressive types, not to mention how cold it was. I was a little nervous about what to expect but everyone was welcoming and they were a good group of riders. I wore my best pants for the occasion but they happen to be reasonably tight and I was the only one kicking that style. I’m sure we will head down for the next one. I think it is maybe the most interesting bike movement afoot in the ‘ville for now.