Sweet and Sour Ramble

This is the rest of the story to go with the cracked frame photo in the post below.

I was just riding along.....

No, really. The fine folks at Ride Lugged hosted a little ride to Thurmont, and I came along. Unfortunately, we weren't blessed with the balmy weather we had in December, but eight hearty souls made the ride out regardless.

Starting at Cory's palatial mansion, we wended our way north out of Frederick. We were almost cut short early on when some Granny Grope nearly plowed Cory and Starmer into mush. The evasive action took out Starmer's front wheel, so they jumped back to the house and swapped one out while the rest of us waited, and I once again saw the Outlaw headed out for a ride.



Plenty of stops to regroup, and a longer stop at a local philanthropist's for some to add toe and hand warmers (THANKS BK!!), and back out into the blast.



As we passed through Loys Station Bridge, my rear wheel was really getting wobbly. This is a new, budget wheel, and with my standard luck, was coming untensioned and untrued. Cory helped tighten and true it enough to keep me rolling, but we had to stop a few times. Near Thurmont, Mel and Christine were DONE, so I led them into town the direct way instead of the roundabout way the lads took to catch the last of the three covered bridges. Heading up one of the last hills, I heard the ping of what I thought was a spoke breaking (been there, done that), but when we got to town I checked and didn't find one broken.

We ate at the Thurmont Bar and Grill. The astonished clientele must have been puzzled by the outlandish crew that invaded their quiet little pub. The dining was accompanied by the dulcet tones of the local fire dispatch scanner blaring out, and the beer, burgers and fries never tasted so good.



The planned bailers had limited room for bikes going back, but Gary joined us there to do the ride back, and graciously allowed me to take my bike back to town with his car, solving two problems at once. Back in Frederick I went over to the shop to have a grown-up get my wheel right, and when putting it back on the bike Tom said "Uh, John, I think you have a bigger problem than the wheel."



Yikes, now I knew what the "Ping" was. I can't complain too much. The 30 or more year old Fuji was a goodwill purchase that gave two years of hard service. Now I'll be looking to replace it, so if anyone knows of a bike that is 62-64cm or 24"-25" in size and will fit 37mm Paselas with fenders, let me know. Right now I'm leaning towards some flavor of a Surly, maybe a Crosscheck, Long Haul Trucker, or even a Karate Monkey. Who knows?

As for the rest of the riders, they stayed cold and swung to the east and Woodsboro before heading back to Frederick, arriving just before dark. You'll have to bug them for that story though. I came back to town afterwards for a few more beers and good company. Christine and Mel get extra points for doing the ride out in the wintery blast and STILL being nice enough to make chocolate chip cookies that evening. I stand in awe. It was great to see some friends, and meet some new ones.

Update: I posted the link to here on the i-BoB list, and found I am not alone.