BBQ Bass Ride 2020

Last Saturday Robert and I had our annual BBQ Bass ride.  It's a far cry from our first one back in 1998.  On that one about three friends joined us, and we rode maybe 25 miles total, stopping about halfway at Tillman's BBQ in Hillsboro.  Things have been different in more recent years.  We've added miles and friends.  Tillman's BBQ is no longer there, and we've found it's much better to eat BBQ at the end of the ride, particularly because the rides are usually more like 75 miles.

This year's BBQ Bass Ride was slightly scaled down in mileage and participants.  In recent years we've often had 25 to 30 people, but we tried to keep it smaller this year due to the roni.  People generally did a good job of not sitting or standing too close to each other.  Robert and I also tried to keep it safe food-wise.  We asked everyone to bring their own bike food, and the BBQ was served in individual containers rather than shared serving containers.  Being outside helped a lot.  We didn't advertise the ride very much but still wound up with a slightly larger group than we anticipated, 16 riders.  Also, had Robert and I known a few weeks ago that Georgia COVID-19 cases would spike, we probably would have cancelled this year's event.  But I'll focus on the the positives, which were the ride itself, the beautiful weather, and seeing some cyclopeeps I hadn't seen in quite a while.

Robert created a metric century (approximately 62-mile) route that headed east to Putnam County.  We all gathered in the Jordan Engineering parking lot and headed out at 9:00 AM.  I loved being able share our great local roads with friends from Macon and Milledgeville.  It wasn't too hot, either; temperatures didn't get into the 90s until the end of the ride.

Avery, a Jordan Engineering employee, and his girlfriend drove the SAG truck and met us at our refreshment stop, the Willard fire station.

I love this picture of Tony and Cody!

Robert urged everyone not to make it a hammerfest.  It was quite moderate before the stop.  Although it picked up a little in the final miles, it never got as crazy as in some past years.  I was glad the group mostly stayed together.

Morgan, Jordan Engineering's intern, picked up Fresh Air BBQ for us, which we enjoyed when we got back to the parking lot.

Of course, I had to maintain one of our newer traditions, having Laverne Howard's fried pies with our BBQ lunch!  I placed an order with her ahead of time and picked them up at the farmers market that morning before the ride started.  Woo hoo!  Fried pies!  A = apple, P = peach, SP = salt & pepper (just kidding! SP = sweet potato)

I heart my cyclopeeps!

Not on the sign-in list: Angie Childre, Graham Skardon, Robert, and me