Spooktacular Halloween ride

On Saturday I participated in the Habitat for Humanity Halloween bike ride.

To prepare for the ride I wanted to replace the cleats on my cycling shoes and get some cleat covers. They had gotten worn during Cycle North Carolina and I really probably should have replaced them sooner. I went to my local bike shop and they went to replace the cleats. Uh oh! Trouble! The hole in the shoe where the new cleats needed to be attached -- stripped! Doing the Halloween ride with one shoe did not seem like an option. I ended up leaving the shop as the proud owner of new bike shoes and new cleats. The cleat covers were out of stock.

My friends and I registered for the 100 mile route. Unfortunately, we got up to misty, drizzly, rainy weather. The radar showed no precipitation and the forecast had been for clearing overnight and some clouds and sun -- not misty, drizzle conditions.

I unloaded my bike and went to test my new shoes and could. not. clip. in. Oh no! OK, I did a test ride around the parking area and the shoes were attaching but not like normal. I found my riding friends -- even Chris who had been sick -- and we were off but only after waiting 5-10 minutes in the rain while some stragglers who were doing the same day registration were getting ready. I had a hard time clipping in at the start but I was able to stay with the group. We thought Chris was with us but we lost him somewhere. Then we saw him briefly at the mile 25 rest stop and lost him again. He said that he ended up doing the 62 mile route.

Overall the ride was pretty good. The people that I was with were in a good mood about the weather and we ended up taking it at an off season long ride kind of pace that felt appropriate to the conditions. We were a small group of four -- Doug and Tom who I planned to ride with and one other rider that joined us along the way. At one point I moaned that I really wanted the sun to come out, I was sick of being wet and my back was getting cold. That became a case of be careful what you wish for, the sun came out and the wind picked up. We ended up doing the 25 or so mile into the wind!

Many thanks to Doug and Tom for riding with me!