The Ladies and Gents Ride: Like Being in a Movie

There is one lady on the Thursday Ladies & Gents Ride who I remember from a little Pomona Valley Bicycle Coalition ride earlier this year. It was a ride that ended at the High Point Brewing Company, after first winding around Bonelli Park. That ride, only four months ago, was quite tame, a smaller group that tended to stretch out when the wheels were turning and the riders were moving. At the time her concern was about keeping up, not falling too far behind on the low rollers of Puddingstone Drive.

Skip forward to last night. The twenty or so riders of the Ladies & Gents is a fair sized one for a Thursday evening. During those moments when there is a merging with the Thirsty Thursday group, the number of riders in one spot swells to three, or four, times that number. It is a situation in which less experienced riders, suddenly seized with apprehension, will often cover their heads and move as far to the right as possible. While I knew that would not be the case last night when the two groups merged for an extended period, and succession of streets, through San Dimas, I also did not expect the reaction that did take place.

Sheer terror? Heck, no. We are talking absolute excitement, sprinkled with exhilaration, and topped with a zest for more. Exclamations about "like being in a movie" revealed a certain, and familiar, stoke and thrill that is a part of riding in the big group. It is a sensation that, if we are fortunate, never goes away; week after week, or night after night, it resurfaces whenever we share that moment on the road, or the trail, with others who feel the same way. I tend to have my poker face on during those moments, and I tend to think that most of the Thirsty Thursday group does as well, so it was especially refreshing to witness this outward expression of pure thrill and joy. If that is not what it is about, I don't know why we would do it. So Good! Keep the excitement going, it will keep us young forever.