Wednesday Night Ride - 4/16 - 6PM Chick-FilA on Pisgah Ch Rd

[Mary Hughes]

The forecast for Wednesday continues to be sunny & mild, so here we go!

WELCOME TO THE 19TH SEASON OF THE [Hughes'] WEDNESDAY NIGHT RIDE

PARKING LOT BEHIND/BESIDE CHICK-FILA, 209 Pisgah Church Rd.

6PM

• Ride leaves promptly at 6PM
• ALL paces welcome, everyone on a road, or e-bike SPECIAL NOTE: This is the 1st ride of the season.  We are all slow, sluggish & off our game.  Do not worry about averaging 14.0 or 14.5 at this point.  Come on out.
• Route options are :  #121 18 Miles - GPS Link or #237 25 Miles - GPS Link
• Cue sheets provided
• No sweep on duty, but Rick & Mary monitor the rear, & regroup at stop signs
• Dinner afterwards, across the parking lot, on the patio of Il Mediterraneo - everyone is invited (family & friends are welcome).

Brought to you by:  Mary & Rick Hughes

Here's how it works:

• The ride is open to anyone on a road, or e-bike.  With rare exception, hybrid or mountain bikes cannot keep up. (this is due to fatter tire width, lower tire pressure & up-right bike geometry - not to a lack of effort on the part of the cyclist).
• Come to the parking lot behind/beside Chick-FilA, 209 Pisgah Church Rd.  Park wherever you'd like.  Most of us are directly behind the Chick-FilA building.
• Be in the parking lot, geared up and ready to ride at 6PM.  We do not wait.
• Wear a helmet.  Smart cyclists also have blinkie lights.
• Paper cue sheets are available; if you want one, find Mary
• Mary sends the group off in PACE order, so the fastest riders leave first.  This is to minimize the amount of jockeying for position once out on the road.  [A-Riders average 18MPH or more.  B-Riders average 15-18 MPH. C-Riders average < 15MPH]
• Typically, the faster riders go the longest route.
• The routes change every week.  (Any set route becomes a race).
• I do not make the routes hilly.  This is Guilford County - you will average 1,000 ft. of elevation every 20 miles. Period.
• If you are on an e-bike in the A group, you will NOT pull & you will NOT hotrod.
• Routes are selected based on amount of daylight available to finish.  Thus, the first couple of weeks, the routes are relatively short.  Our longest routes are the week of June 21st - the solstice.
• We do not chaperone the slowest rider, but we do monitor the rear, and we stop & regroup at stop signs, for a reasonable amount of time.  If there is more than a single rider off the back, we do not wait.  We consider that to be a separate group.  We wait at the end, until all riders have returned.  We will go looking for you if you do not show up - so if you're cutting off to ride directly home, please let us know.
• We never know how many riders will show up.  The group can range from 12 to 75 - just depends on... who knows.  The more, the merrier, so come on out!

What's the deal with dinner?  

• In the beginning, when Koury Corp. paved this parking lot (seemingly just for us!).  I called them & asked permission for the group to park there.  I was told "No".  So I decided to use their parking lot until we were run off, and to buy some goodwill & hedge our bets, we began to patronize the restaurant at the back of the development that has outdoor seating (for stinky, sweaty cyclists), and an unmatched, amazing waiter named Jacob.  Jacob has managed our ever-changing dinner group for almost 17 years.  Everyone is invited to join us on the patio, after the ride, for some dinner & banter.  Friends & family are welcome to join us.  We don't bite [people].