Saturday at 6 – be there or be...

[Lund]

...the person we talk about for the entire ride.

"OMG!" Garth will say. "Can you believe how soft [your name here] is? Marshmallow soft. And I don't mean marshmallows like the ones in the half-empty bag you find at the very back of a cupboard a few years after their best-before date. I mean 'fresh out of the freshly opened bag' marshmallows."

Claire will nod, then shrug, then add, "Yeah – [your name here] is pretty effen soft. But not as soft as [or maybe this is your name]. Imagine a fresh mini-marshmallow on top of a dollop of Cool Whip™ on top of a big bowl of Tubby Custard. That's how soft he/she is."

Then I'll say "And then there's Alan," and everyone will laugh so hard, Gatorade will come out of our noses.

So there you have it: be there or be the subject of our merciless mockery and derision.

6:05 departure from Cook Street Starbucks. 90 or so km. Brisk but "winterized" pace. Let's say 32-33 km/h. But you're always welcome to sit in and let others do the pulling.

[Claire]

... Then Steve will be all, "This is boring, I'm gearing down so I can mash even huger gears and try to drop everyone while I chase another PR on Strava." And then he will wonder why he's riding all alone... again.

I, on the other hand, will (maybe) stuff my pockets full of cookies so that others will be inclined to ride with me and/or pull me back up to Steve so I can stick a pump in his spokes. Then we will regale one another with BS stories over coffee while we enjoy that satisfying feeling of exhaustion in our legs.

Sounds fun, right?

[Lund]

The part about mashing huge gears sounds fun.

Cookies are alright too.

[GarthC]

How can I resist not coming on the ride tomorrow...sounds like it'll be a fun time, except the Gatorade coming out of our noses!

Claire, you have to stuff your pockets with cookies now that you've dangled that carrot!

See you at Mt Doug Park.

[Bosie]

Pillsbury Dough Boy soft....
I'll see ya Sunday. Cant make it tomorrow Enjoy....

[chrisb]

does it look nice enough for a fenderless ride?
I'm thinking it will be dry, but I've made that mistake before

Christian

[Lund]

Unless it rains during the night, I'm going fenderless.

[AJ Neale]

OK people, you have to give this Saturday-fest thing a try! Claire and Steve met me near King George and we then picked up Christian and Garth at Mt. Doug. The 5 of us enjoyed the frosty, dark ride up to Sidney where we almost, sort of got to see a faint sunrise, and where Claire popped some hand-warmers in her gloves to survive the -2 degree fog fest around Lands End .... see it's not all about suffering! Let it be known that Steve quickly changed my flat after the sprint on Interurban ..... something about feeling guilty about slagging people? To top it off, everyone's best friend Claire DID indeed have something in her pockets! Obviously concerned that we might become too hard on these rides, and in an attempt to soften us up post-ride, she passed around delicious homemade cookies containing chocolate chips and ...... wait for it ...... BACON!

I'm smiling for the rest of the day. See you next Saturday.

Andrew

[Lund]

Great start to another year of Saturday sufferfests (or "fun-fests," if you prefer the terminology Claire uses to try to lure people into joining).

We had no "weak links." Everyone rode strong, and no one ducked off the front when it was his or her turn to pull.

Nice work, all.

Too bad we have to wait a full week for the next one...

[Claire]

Aw, geez, now that Andrew publicized the presence of my cookies at the end of the ride, we might have all kinds of cookie-groupies coming out just for the treats! Rest assured, Sufferfest aspirants, the cookies (if or when they make a reappearance) shall be presented only at the post-ride coffeefest and only to those who gamely participated in the ride. Today was a bit of a test of toughness, what with the freezing-ass temps from Sidney to Wallace, and lots of reduced visibility due to fog. But we persevered and were richly rewarded with a delightfully steady, quick-ish and satisfying feat of mutual effort, with everyone logging 100+km in those legs.

Thanks, Andrew, for being such a strong, friendly and substantially-wind-blocking riding friend.

"You provide the coffee; I'll provide cookies."