Rode with 145 of my closest friends from the Dublin Pleasanton BART station out to Tracy, Patterson, The Middle of Nowhere (TM), and then back. I had a SUPER day. Highlights included: meeting and chatting with Irving on the BART ride to the start volunteering at the start and meeting a lot of new people riding with Keith and Eileen for a while on the approach to the first climb exploiting Jonathon and Emma's tandem train to the fullest (THANKS! and -redeem this for free beer-) trying my darndest to keep up with Roy and Patrick into Patterson riding and chatting with Ryan on The Big Climb catching up to and chatting with Eric L on TBC enjoying the sunshine and fantastic weather as I climbed the two little hills from TMoN(tm) going just as fast as I could on the downhill but still getting passed by roadies ​​ struggling to keep up with with Mike, Barley(?), and <unknown rider> down the final stretch (sorry, at that point I was not very chatty and so didn't ask for names). getting lost a quarter mile from the finish(!) eaves-dropping on so many lively conversations at the finish Kudos to all the folks that organized this ride with a nod to Rob for showing a genuine concern for each and every one of us riders.