The morning dawned very wet and grey, but the forecast was now calling for a bit of a window in the middle of the day. With any luck, we'd avoid most of the nasty stuff - and as things turned out, we didn't do too badly.
Arriving just before KSU time, I rolled in just behind a couple of other bikes. We set our stands and shot the breeze a little while we waitied for the other two members who were going today. One of the guys we were waiting for (Ed), was our newly-elected Road Captain, and we joked about whether he'd be ready for this, his inaugural ride in that position. When he pulled in, I asked him if he had a route picked out for us and he smiled and pulled out a printed sheet of directions from his pocket...which he'd only printed out a few minutes earlier. (He admitted later that as he was walking out the door, his wife happened to ask him if he knew how to get there and it hit him that he'd be leading and needed to map out some directions, pronto.) But all was good, we finished our water/juice/coffee and headed off to Waltham.
Pulling in, there was a decent turnout there already, given the uncertainty of the day's weather. We parked and then made the rounds, saying hello to the Waltham officers and making small talk with other members who were milling around the parking lot.
There were the usual pre-run announcements, a quick prayer, and we were off. Now Waltham is a city - not of Boston size, but heavily populated none-the-less. Instead of scenic roadways, they have stoplights and lots of traffic. Fortunately, they had secured 5 or 6 motorcycle cops to do blocking, and between them and the support from local township cruisers, it was a smooth run - roughly 35 miles, and we only hit sprinkles a couple of times.
Arriving back at their Post, we all dismounted and scattered - some for the portas, some for the inside lounge, and some for the food line. When we took our spot in line for food, we encountered something we've never seen before; they were serving a hot turkey dinner! At a bike run! Now I've seen all kinds of food at runs before, from the usual burgers and dogs, to chicken, pig roasts, clam boils, etc. But never a hot turkey dinner. Green beans, mashed taters, stuffing, thick slabs of turkey, gravy, butter and rolls, and mini pies! They had a fantastic assembly-line kind of setup, with a person at each of the food stops, serving each food and keeping things moving extremely fast. We were quite impressed, and will be tossing this idea around for our next big run.
We looked for a spot at one of the tables, but since we'd been one of the last to hit the food line, they were full up. All the better, actually, as we we're used to being relegated to the outskirts (dirty rotten unwanteds that we are).
And after the food, it was beer time! Mmmm, beer! (Ed, having had a rough evening the night before, looks on with uncertainty, but he gathered himself together and settled right in with the pace.)
The occasional sprinkle had picked up to a light, but steady plink-plink-plink, so we made our rounds again and then mounted up to head back to our Post for 'one' self-congratulatory beerverage. As we were pulling out, the skies opened up and we thought for sure we were in for a good dousing. Thankfully, though, it petered out quickly and we dealt with little more than a steady drizzle on the ride back.
A couple of the riders had other plans for the remainder of the day and hadn't returned to the Post, but the three remaining Amigos assumed our spots in the front, as usual.
A quick shot of the pantlegs for posterity.
See? Not too wet, overall. It was a decent half-day excursion and we'd shown some love to a fellow Post. Good things go back and forth, and we look forward to seeing them in a little over a month's time for our own support run. Hopefully we can have better weather on that day.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
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