DGR 2018 - Huntsville

[ctag]

This was my first year participating in the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride, and it was a blast!

The start and finish point was Straight To Ale, a local microbrewery. I got to the parking lot just after 11:30 and there were already a lot of bikes. More kept rolling in through lunchtime. As everyone started preparing to depart, Charles called a huddle and went over the DGR goals this year (raising funds for prostate cancer programs and mens' mental health) along with the ride plan. Over 30 bikes showed up so we split into three groups, each with a leader and sweep.

I was in the last group, and got to offset some of the stress of being in my largest group ride to date with knowing that Al -- who's led the other group rides I've been on -- was the leader for that section. We left the brewery and almost immediately came to a wreck in a turning lane. We filtered past but the group was split up until everyone reached the first waypoint, the Veterans Memorial Museum. The building was closed, so we took a quick breather and then got back on the road.

The second waypoint was Mad Malts, another microbrewery. We packed their room pretty well to capacity. I had a great time trying the Vanilla Porter, listening to road stories from other riders, and then browsing the bikes outside. Around 3:30 we started working our way back to the finish line, navigating *another* wreck in the process. Once back at STA, the bikes were lined up on the field and people grabbed dinner and won raffle prizes. I won a little bell, that I definitely plan to hang on my bike soon.

[springer]

 Wow, 8 post in and 1 of them is a report on a big ride !!
You gonna fit in just fine.  ;)