His base is bigger than my peak

Expecting no compensation other than the gratitude of his fellows, Cap'n invited three more bikes and their riders into his truck. This car pool was met at the bustling Knott Lott by a non-bike-wielding LOtB and a non-handle-wielding rider. Xteric also arrived in due time.
Thus assembled, the pithy six pack rolled out the back, with NoHandle taking the reins.
We took the back trail to the fire station and dropped B's chin trail, back up, and over to Fleming. The pace was nothing short of furious as we cranked our way around to 8B. I enjoyed plenty of quality time off the back. Throughout the night, the peloton was split repeatedly with multiple attacks, breakaways chased by groupettos and me in the back inhaling dust. In spite of the pithy pace, count-offs were largely ceremonial as the gaps were never great.


After out and backing 8B, we rounded the loop to Redneck Rising -the only trail that Councilman had specifically requested not riding. His opinions weren't strong enough to mount a mutiny against rideleader nohandle, though, and up we went. A delicious descent of the lip brought us to the lake.
I finally got close enough to the front to realize that it had been B throwing down the hammer all night. He took front wheel for the lake loop. Which was most fun when he deadended us into a campsite. A chorus of dogs erupted into yips and barks and the owners started yelling at the dogs. Our line unraveled with backtracking and fence hopping, then quickly reformed as we sprinted away to hoots and cheers from the perplexed campers.
Cap'n chose a new swim spot, and the cleansing waters were refreshing. Back at the Knott Lott, the teeming masses had left and we could change without having to worry about showing the spotters too much. Checking the clock, it was 9:45 with, reportedly, 22 miles on the bikes.

Xteric was the first in line for tacos and Mother Rye kindly offered to make his order noonion. It was obviously a ruse to teach him that noonion tacos are for children, because while everyone else was heaping on sauce and digging in (or hiccuping) Xteric sat silently, looking like a kicked dog. At pay time, we learned that Mother Rye was another year older. So, we treated her to a booming Happy Birthday complete with five part harmony.

Now its red hot Wednesday. And while we normally would be despondent, knowing the next tuesday is so far away, this week we have the Friday bonus XP ride to anticipate. B is determined to long ride it. And schemes to minimize shuttle driving are being hatched. Sure would hate to be the rider that misses that one.