3GR: Speckled Jerseys

Not A Put Down- A Challenge

Fall can be two things seemingly. On one hand it can be the spectacular clear, dry, colorful kind of season, then on the other hand, it can be the grey, dank, drippy, sullen kind of season.

We got the latter on the ride yesterday. Despite the weather forecast, which claimed it would be nice out, it wasn't. At least not until well after the ride was over, but that was okay. It didn't deter we three el loco riders. 

I wanted to get out early, but gastrointestinal issues that I won't get into here prevented that from happening.  Needless to say that I managed to get to the regularly scheduled start and met up with Craig there. We chatted for a bit, then split for the trail Northbound. On the way, we ran into Mike on his titanium Mukluk and he joined in to make it a party of three.

The air was cold, really, but at least there was no discernible wind. The gravel was wet from the nearly week long soaking it has gotten. It wasn't mushy, except in a few spots, but it was packed down and wet. Wet enough that our jerseys got splattered with gravel mud in a few places. And speaking of jerseys, we were chatting about an idea we all had independently on our own considered in the past.

Wet, grey, and cold.

The idea? Well, it is to make a riding kit specifically aimed at gravel riders. Just how that might look is what we spoke of, but I can not say much more than that right now. But I will say I think we talked about some exciting ideas. We'll see......

So, we had a great ride, as usual. One thing that seemed odd was that the traffic was heavier than usual. We actually had to stop at C-57 and wait for about five minutes before we could even get across the blacktop. Not only that, but we had to avoid a couple of trucks turning into the road we were on at the time. I'm not sure why all the traffic was dense on paved roads, but it was definitely noticeable.

I'm imagining that I may need to actually start out with lights next week. It was just barely light when I left yesterday, and I even caught a guy sleeping under the viaduct on the way over near my neighborhood. That was weird! In fact- I thought maybe I should have stopped to see if he was alright, as it was in the upper 30's when I went by him, but he was cleared out and gone by the time I went back by there. I don't need that sort of excitement on my next 3GR outing, that's for sure!