Saturday, August 8, 2015
It is time for the Six Mile group ride. When we had our winter team meeting 1 of the things we discussed was doing more group rides. We had a few last year but they petered out and in the end we didn't do enough. We had a lot...A LOT...of discussion about this at the team meeting. In the end I just took it over myself and said we should just do it and not worry too much about anything. Things will fall where they will fall. Then you adjust and make it better.
I think so far this year they have been good. At about 8:50 I rolled around the Canal Lot and said that people should meet up in the middle. Some went to the group, and others in the group decided to roll away. And @seanrunnette wouldn't stop talking as I was trying to talk to the group. Between him and @UtahJoe I'm not sure who blathers more when I'm trying to start a race or a group ride. Anyway, with some coming and some going and not really much to say other than "ok go" I did that, said "ok go."
We were probably 45 total people so keeping this together was going to be impossible. But since we had about 12 people sweeping I knew we would be good. We settled in with a main group of 33 people, me and/or @Glenn leading the pack and @Kirt sweeping. We weren't sure if we would do the whole thing but we kept a really solid pace and were in the 27 lot in less than an hour.
I sat down here and ordered the pizza for lunch. Then we reversed the Twisties and finished out the loop with a rolling time of about 1:50. For a group so large I think this was about as efficient as we could have gotten. Many thanks to all of my teammates for keeping this together. I'm not going to tag you all because I will inadvertently miss someone, but special thanks to @Schilling for totally blocking traffic on South Middlebush while we all crossed like a herd of cows.
Went back to the shop, had pizza, shot the shit, and generally had a good time. Took another pic with Utah then we hit the road and went home to shower & get ready for Saturday Part 2: Into NYC.
@Dominique's friend Inge just moved from Montreal to NYC for a fellowship or something. I don't know about a lot of that doctoring stuff but I guess she is studying to be a Hobbit and will eventually go on a quest for a ring. Anyway, we went in and met up with her at her apartment where we ate snacks on the East River and drank some wine. Then we went to Curry Hill and ate at Bhatti, as recommended by @jmanic or at least the people he worked with.
I had never been to an upscale Indian place before so it was kinda cool to try it out. We got some appetizers and main dishes and bread and just continued to talk. I had only ever met Inge for about 2 hours before today but the one thing that is really cool is that she is sort of a no-bullshit kind of person in that she is totally open to talk about whatever. That makes everything easy because at 43 years old, I have no time for small talk and slow/easy introductions. Too time consuming. This meant that conversation was good, and more importantly, real.
Food was good, solid recommendation on this one. I don't know that I have discerning enough tastes to tell the difference between good Indian and very good Indian. Shitty Indian is easy. Maybe there is no difference between good and very good? Dinner was great top to bottom, both food and company.
Went back to the apartment, had a bit more wine, then called it a night. Long day but a very good one.
It is time for the Six Mile group ride. When we had our winter team meeting 1 of the things we discussed was doing more group rides. We had a few last year but they petered out and in the end we didn't do enough. We had a lot...A LOT...of discussion about this at the team meeting. In the end I just took it over myself and said we should just do it and not worry too much about anything. Things will fall where they will fall. Then you adjust and make it better.
I think so far this year they have been good. At about 8:50 I rolled around the Canal Lot and said that people should meet up in the middle. Some went to the group, and others in the group decided to roll away. And @seanrunnette wouldn't stop talking as I was trying to talk to the group. Between him and @UtahJoe I'm not sure who blathers more when I'm trying to start a race or a group ride. Anyway, with some coming and some going and not really much to say other than "ok go" I did that, said "ok go."
We were probably 45 total people so keeping this together was going to be impossible. But since we had about 12 people sweeping I knew we would be good. We settled in with a main group of 33 people, me and/or @Glenn leading the pack and @Kirt sweeping. We weren't sure if we would do the whole thing but we kept a really solid pace and were in the 27 lot in less than an hour.
I sat down here and ordered the pizza for lunch. Then we reversed the Twisties and finished out the loop with a rolling time of about 1:50. For a group so large I think this was about as efficient as we could have gotten. Many thanks to all of my teammates for keeping this together. I'm not going to tag you all because I will inadvertently miss someone, but special thanks to @Schilling for totally blocking traffic on South Middlebush while we all crossed like a herd of cows.
Went back to the shop, had pizza, shot the shit, and generally had a good time. Took another pic with Utah then we hit the road and went home to shower & get ready for Saturday Part 2: Into NYC.
@Dominique's friend Inge just moved from Montreal to NYC for a fellowship or something. I don't know about a lot of that doctoring stuff but I guess she is studying to be a Hobbit and will eventually go on a quest for a ring. Anyway, we went in and met up with her at her apartment where we ate snacks on the East River and drank some wine. Then we went to Curry Hill and ate at Bhatti, as recommended by @jmanic or at least the people he worked with.
I had never been to an upscale Indian place before so it was kinda cool to try it out. We got some appetizers and main dishes and bread and just continued to talk. I had only ever met Inge for about 2 hours before today but the one thing that is really cool is that she is sort of a no-bullshit kind of person in that she is totally open to talk about whatever. That makes everything easy because at 43 years old, I have no time for small talk and slow/easy introductions. Too time consuming. This meant that conversation was good, and more importantly, real.
Food was good, solid recommendation on this one. I don't know that I have discerning enough tastes to tell the difference between good Indian and very good Indian. Shitty Indian is easy. Maybe there is no difference between good and very good? Dinner was great top to bottom, both food and company.
Went back to the apartment, had a bit more wine, then called it a night. Long day but a very good one.
