It’s not a Xmas Eve ride; it’s a Robert f*****g Samano birthday ride!

I went back and forth debating whether to drive or ride to the start of this ride. After discussing it with Boots, we agreed that driving over would be the safer bet. While the start was scheduled for the DFH Dunkin’, the extra few miles from Pedal & Pour would make the ride more worthwhile. Boots also agreed to carpool over and we would leave from her place around 6:00 a.m. That would give us enough time to make the drive over with a coffee stop along the way.

I’d also received a text from Moose asking if we would meet at Dunkin’. I shared Boots’ and I’s plan for the day and he agreed to meet us at Pedal & Pour. Then in our Slack channel while discussing the ride Stuart also agreed to meet us at Pedal & Pour.

Come the morning, Boots and I arrived crazy early, but Moose had slept in some and was scheduled to pull in to Pedal & Pour at the exact time we wanted to leave. I told Moose to just meet us anyway and I’d update Robert to start without us if we ended up late to Dunkin’.

While Moose did arrive a little late, I thought we might be just early enough to make it on time. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. The ride up to Dunkin’ was a chill affair for the four of us. We all took turns riding next to one another and taking the opportunity to chat. Of course this meant a slower than usual pace. Once we arrived at DFH and Charleston, Moose wanted to get a head start for the Red Rock entrance, while Boots, Stuart, and I went to meet Robert at Dunkin’. The three of us were surprised to see that Robert had already left! So after Boots made a quick restroom break the three of us took off to try to catch Robert.

Despite our best efforts, we failed to catch up to Robert before the entrance to Red Rock. As we came up on the turn off, he was already there with several other cyclists who had stopped, I assume, to wait for us. As we rolled to a stop at the entrance, I, and everyone else, started singing happy birthday. It was super cool. A short time later the car we were waiting for cleared, Robert got his Senior Lifetime Pass, and we rolled out to do the loop.

I kept my ride to the summit chill. I hung out with Robert and Stuart for the duration. Had a couple nice chats with Herbie and a few others along the way. Once at the summit, Robert took a handful of pictures of his new pass, and a few more of the assembled group before we rolled out.

At the loop exit, we regrouped. Several decided to take the left to return home and the remainder made the right to make our way to Blue Diamond and Cottonwood Station. However, before leaving, Robert made a phone call to Cottonwood Station to have them get started on a pair of Breakfast Pizzas so they would be ready to go when we got there. Sadly we’d be delayed as Boots ended up getting a flat along the way. While I worked on getting her squared away, we told Robert and a handful of others to roll on and we’d catch up. All told it took less than 10 minutes to get her back rolling and we’d end up pulling into Cottonwood Station along with Robert and the rest of the gang.

After stuffing our faces with breakfast pizza and coffee it was time to roll out. Once more we had a breakup in the group. A couple of riders choose to ride back the way we’d come, while Robert and a few others, Boots and I included, made for a return trip along Blue Diamond and eventually on to Fort Apache for the return.

From there the ride was pretty bone standard except for the short stint along Serene versus Blue Diamond. At first I had my reservations about this little detour, but I actually enjoyed it much more than staying with Blue Diamond until Fort Apache. It certainly felt safer without having to worry about crossing two lanes of traffic which is cruising at highway speeds. It’s a little trick I’ll keep in my future routing notebook.

When we got back to Pedal & Pour, Boots and I took another coffee break while saying goodbye and a final happy birthday to Robert. Maybe 30 minutes later, Boots and I called it a day, loaded up the kids on the bike rack, and drove home. All in all a great day for Robert’s birthday ride.

New bike fund: $78.88 (+$0.25), €0.52 (+€0.00), ₱10.00 (+₱)0.00, ֏10.00 (+֏0.00)
194 vehicles @ 4.6 per mile, 1.2 per minute, Speeds: 39.5 mph (avg), 68.5 mph (max) — by MyBikeTraffic.com
Mostly cloudy-Cloudy, 47°F-56°F, Feels like 46°F-58°F, Humidity 42%-31%, Wind SSW 5mph-E 5mph – by Klimat.app
— myWindsock.com Report —
Weather Impact™: 4.8%
Headwind: 62% @ 2.5 – 6.7 mph
Longest Headwind: 01h 17m 5s
Air Speed: 16.2 mph
Temp: 45-62.3 °F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
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