Team ride!

The weather has been very nice (no rain now for almost two weeks already) and after being cooped-up at the house working for the past two days I decided that today was the day I'd check out the weekly training ride of Wielerclub de Eendracht (sponsored by Viks, among others). They had e-mailed me that there were only going to be two more weekend rides before the switch to mountain bikes for the winter, and next week I know I'm not going to make it. Five of us, although at various points along the way we picked up other riders. We ended up riding for almost three hours, and with the out-and-back to the meeting point in Loenen, it was more for me (62 miles door-to-door). Nice guys, good pace, no coffee stops--what's not to like. I think I'll like this club, and they've already said they'd be happy to have me. We also did some roads that were new to me, which was hard to believe given how long I've been riding a bike through these parts (basically: Loenen, Loosdrecht, Hilversum, Soest, Soesterduinen, Soesterberg, Austerlitz, Huis ter Heide, Bosch en Duin, Den Dolder, Westbroek, Tienhoven, Breukelen). One had a little hill in it, and several of us rode up it pretty fast, which was fun. It's the club "my" cardiologist (of that wrecked Sunday ride a month ago) also belongs to, but he wasn't there because two weeks ago he broke his hip in a race (the Ronde van Hilversum he told me about at the hospital). It was wet that day, and the course had a shiny, cobbled section with a pedestrian crossing in it. There were several crashes that day, but his was particularly ugly. The hills of Limburg follow tomorrow on what promises to be another sunny and mild (though not warm) day.