FLCC> Cookies Saturday ride report

[mgarcia at borgwarner.com]

For various reasons, I didn't much feel like racing on Saturday.
(For that matter, I never much feel like racing, but I'll try to
keep the fatalistic-negativity level low today.) Drive was a bit
long, weather was a bit iffy, needed time for some last-minute
Mothers' day shopping with the kids, etc.

Seems like I was not the only one that felt this way.
So between Ernie, Don, and myself we kind of patched together a plan 
for a group of cookies to gather at my house Saturday morning and 
depart for some undetermined northerly destination.

The sky was a bit more gray and cloudy that I would have liked
when Mark Rishniw's yellow mini pulled into my driveway. Casey
followed shortly thereafter and I served up some coffee while
we waited for the rest of the gang to arrive.  Soon Ernie, Don, Matt,
Nick, Peter, and Brian all rolled in together (did i forget anyone?).

I was prepared to offer coffee and bagels all around (actually as it
turns 
out I was out of cream cheese, so I was only sort-of prepared), but my
sense
on the general mood was that people wanted to get going and not hang
out too much.   Except for Mark, he was still in street clothes 
enjoying his coffee.  And Don seemed to be having fun playing with the 
kids. But a few words of subtle encouragement and motivation (like
"Hey Mark, hurry up and get changed or we'll never get going") soon 
corrected all that, and we were ready to roll.

After a little more indecision we settled on going out to Groton
via the Sovocool downhill, and after a brief stop at the gas station,
we continued out Clark St. Extension and north on Salt Rd to Rte 90
torwards the mysterious Lake Como. 

In Summerhill, Don and Brian decided they needed to get back, so they
went west torwards Locke and we continued north on the dirt section of
Salt Rd (which I am less familiar with).  My original idea was to
go as far as Fillmore Rd and ride back through Sherman Gulf and
then by Lake Como, but we ended up cutting it a little short and
coming back to Rte 90 on what my map calls Dresser Rd. and then
heading back south on Champlin Rd.  Along the way Ernie spotted a
Baltimore Oriole and we saw a beautiful patch of Trillium later on
Ed Hill Rd near Freeville.

Now usually when I post ride or race reports there is something bad or
painful or psychologically challenging that happens to me and then I
write 
about it and some of you write me notes back telling me how funny my
posts 
are as if there was something funny about those things.  I bet you are 
just salivating for me to get to something bad or painful that happened 
on this ride but you are going to be disappointed.

It didn't rain, although it was a bit gray.  I didn't suffer, except
maybe 
just a little when Mark was climbing Clark St. Extension out of Groton.

The company and conversation were pleasant and entertaining as always.  
No one even got a flat.

The only sort-of bad thing that happened was that we didn't get to
Lake Como.  But that is not so unusual, it is a hard lake to see.  And
there are legends of ghost riders who are still wandering the roads 
of Southern Cayuga County, unable to find rest for their souls until 
they catch a glimpse of the elusive Lake Como.  We would not want to 
meet up with them, would we?

Back home through Etna, then when we hit Warren Rd, Mark and I split 
off back to my house while the larger peloton continued back torward 
Ithaca proper.  I got home with time to spare, which is almost
unheard-of
when you are on a ride with Ernie.  42 miles, about three hours.  A
great
way to start the weekend.

-Ano




Mariano Garcia 
BorgWarner Morse TEC Inc.
Ithaca Technical Center
770 Warren Rd.    Ithaca NY 14850
Ph: 607-266-2136 (desk) 607-266-2243 (recep)
FAX: 607-257-5033
email: mgarcia at borgwarner.com