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This write-up's a tribute to my OCD.
(Or as Betsy has suggested to me, CDO, as that puts the letters in alphabetical order.)
I'm in no way slighting those with true Obsessive Compulsive Disorder--I get that on this spectrum, I'm firmly at the tendencies rather than debilitating end.
OCD INFRACTION 1: The plan was to roll out with either 5 (Peets530) or 15ish (including Jim G's and Mike M's Cape group) riders. That right there should have waved a red flag, and maybe it did. The plan was also to roll as soon as possible after the 6am registration. Between late arrivals and the need to move bowels, 6:05a was probably never in the cards, but 6:39a? Really? [grin] Five of us--Brian S, Jim, Paul W, Will R, and I--managed to stay togeter for the first 500 feet. (Literally. I mapped it out on RideWithGPS.) At that point, Jim and Paul opted to divert up what appeared to the rest of us to be an alley. We speculated that they were going to meet the Cape group. After a brief discussion, Brian, Will, and I opted to continue on the official route (see "The Numbers" below). We tagged onto the back of a mostly COD group down to the Sagamore Bridge, made the obligatory walk across, then headed off on our own following a brief water stop. We found, used, and then dropped a paceline along 6a. We availed ourselves of the lunch stop at Rock Harbor (see Infraction 2, below), then set off for the rest of the Cape Cod Rail Trail. We popped out at the north end in Wellfleet and headed for the hills: Ocean View Drive, Old Colony Road, and Route 6. We powered across the "cottage flats" leading from Truro into Provincetown, then slow rolled along Commercial Street to the finish where Jim and Paul (plus Kevin C and a few new female friends) joined us (Pepe's Wharf Restaurant for the best margarita and water view in P'town). Great group, great ride! OCD INFRACTION 2: I'm in no way about to sleight the volunteers. Okay, well, I'm in one way about to sleight the volunteers. Thank you, volunteers! On balance, they were fantastic. Truly fantastic. In a friendly and well-supplied way. Except in one way. At the Rock Harbor lunch stop, they had helpfully prepared sandwich halves. Peanut butter. Jelly. Nutella (technically, Jif's copycat). Fluff. One had only to select two halves and pair them as desired. Which is where the problem manifested. No matter how hard one tried, it was essentially impossible to find two halves made from adjacent slices of bread. The result was a sandwich that, while tasty, suffered from the sandwich equivalent of overbite. O. C. D. Nightmare. The Numbers
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