Good to Roll:

I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday and spent most of the day sleeping off a debilitating seasonal cold that I usually get around this time of year. Despite this, Fall is still one of my favourite times of the year, and I wasn't about to let illness deter me from my favourite monthly ride (the Roll: Bicycles Pub Ride) during the most beautiful season. I'm always glad in the end when I decide to ride as opposed to, well, not riding.

We are in the full throes of mid-Autumn, which makes even the most mundane of settings look strangely beautiful:

As has become my routine for these rides, I took the bus into downtown to avoid some potentially dangerous experiences on the road getting there. I know it looks gray and overcast, but I think that actually makes even better conditions for riding:

It was warm enough that there were actually some crew teams rowing on the Scioto near the meet up:

Not my cup of tea, but kudos for being outside and active. From our standpoint, I guess the weather was a little chilly for some people, as we had a rather modest turnout for this month's ride. Only about 2 dozen of us:

That certainly didn't dampen the enthusiasm. In the spirit of the season, one rider chose to decorate his bike accordingly:

Nice work, Bud. I also think my bike just looks brighter under gray skies:

We headed out around 7PM. Unfortunately, we were just a mile or two from the start when my buddy Jim got a flat:

After helping him on his way, he decided to head home due to lack of extra tubes, and also being closer to home than we would be at any other point of the ride. I can't blame him. Thankfully, this sort of fate has yet to befall me on these rides. Anyway...

Due to the delay, I didn't get any pics at the first stop (Sideswipe Brewing). I've been there several times before anyway, so you've likely seen what they're all about. SO, on our way to the second stop of the nite, we found that the Scioto Trail had been blocked by the Light the Night Walk, so we had to make a slight detour. Fortunately, the streets in the area had also been blocked off for the occasion, and we took full advantage:

That was a nice little surprise, and arguably more enjoyable than riding the trail. I mean, being on a street with no cars is practically a cyclists' ideal scenario.

We ended up in downtown Columbus at Platform Brewing for our 2nd stop of the nite:

Other than providing a nice view of downtown, I don't much care for this place, especially since they were purchased by Anheuser-Busch. I'm hoping they remove this stop from future rides. But that's another discussion for another day.

I pretty much stopped taking pics at this point, but I did snap one more of Bud's bike, which had switched to Christmas-style lighting by this point:

Bonus points for versatility. The ride continued on for one more stop after this, and ended at BrewDog in Franklinton, a place we have also frequented many a time. I hopped the bus after enjoying some food and a beverage. A no frills and very few surprises ride was just what I needed yesterday evening. I'm extremely happy I did it because it's rainy and miserable today, so riding may be very limited if it happens at all. However, this is a good opportunity for some much needed maintenance. Enjoy your weekend!