Story of the Irregulars, Chapter 2

Over the winter of 2006/7, Martin acquired a slightly better bike:  a Trek Pilot 5.0 weighing only 22.4 pounds.  He managed to ride through most of the winter, solo, and was in decent riding shape when Frank and Sean returned with the warm weather.  Second ride of the year, Sean invited along his co-worker, the yet to be christened "Snapper".  Now there were four, and it was good.

During the next week, Snapper asked if he could invite BigWaveDave.  Rules of character and SAFEty were developed, but Snapper never answered them regarding BigWaveDave.  Next day, BigWaveDave asked if he could invite his friend "the Duke".  An interesting thing occurred:  BWD actually responded to the character and SAFEty questionaire -- the only time anyone has actually responded.

So that next Saturday, (I think) we were five:  Frank, Snapper, BigWaveDave, Duke, me.  We haven't seen Sean on an Irregulars ride since.  That ride was a seminal ride in the story of the irregulars for two reasons:

1. it was the first time the ride split into "short" and "long" groups as all but Frank & me turned back upon reaching Stem, whereas Frank & I went on to explore several roads including Eaton Rd.  Unfortunately, I think that was also the last time I rode the Eaton Rd circuit -- that needs to be changed [ed.  the previous sentence is no longer true];
2. Snapper apparently rode so hard on the downslope from Stem to Creedmoor that he hurt himself, and it took more than a year to get him ride that hard again.

The week following the above ride, Duke invited Barry, and four of us (Frank, Duke, Barry, me) explored Gordon Moore, Wes Sandling, and Grove Hill roads.  Once again the group split into "short" and "long" as the Duke accompanied Barry back when we reached Philo White Rd, while Frank & I rode up to US-158 on Bike Route #1 before turning around.  Now there were seven, but the average number of riders joining the author on any given Saturday was less than 1.0.  So the author determined that the only way he could continue to have fun was to plan rides for himself, and not care if anyone else showed. And it was good.

As that summer of 2007 came to a close, the author met PaulN ["Iceman"] at the MS-150 in New Bern.  Paul was in charge of delivering ice to the rest stops; the author was a late volunteering recruit to assist with the ice delivery.  And PaulN was invited to join, making eight, and it was good.

About the same time, the author met Norris and BobH while riding.  And they were added to the list, making ten.  And it was good.