The Ridin'

Last Tuesday 5:45 (before return to Standard Time)

11/4/2025

Once upon a night ride, Tuesday, as the group was ‘bout to lose me

Group of fellow mountain bikers, whom I rode with, times before

Thought I, as the trail turned muddy, very rocky, rooty, rutty,

“Best I shred this tread quite lightly, lest I exit, bruised and sore"

Bounced and jounced, I lost my grip on handlebars, I tumbled o’er

Landing on the forest floor

While bumps and jumps will surely pump me, next I know, a stump has dumped me

Junk those stunts that can cost months, debilitated or much more!

Trails cry out, they beg me, "Send it!" — not ‘til I am fully mended

Still, I wonder, “Is it worth it?” even as I ask, “what for?”

Should I do this kind of riding — riding I just now foreswore?

Should I do this anymore?

Seems to me, the simple fact is — I’m not getting  near ‘nough practice

I prefer to ride with others — ‘specially groups of more than four

Having group rides nearly nightly, sounds like fun, but then it might be

Way too much! Do Sundays, daytime, thus we just do one ride more

So, I asked them, “Add this group ride? Something we’ve not done before?”

Quoth those ridin’, “We’re for more!”

Bikers ravin’, “We’re for more!”

(Apologies to Edgar Allen Poe)

Join us 5:45, Tuesday at the end of Coaching Lane for the last Town Forest TNR of 2025. After the ride, we’ll discuss the idea of adding a weekend, daytime group ride. It would be more informal — just a standing time and place where folks will likely find a group to ride with. We’ll continue the discussion at the monthly ATA BOD meeting 6:00, Wednesday at the AOC.