Mid-Week Rides: Breakfast at Brookdale

14 March 2007

Marc writes

I had and idea for a ride: leave WWWobble’s place for a ride down Skyline and 9 to Brookdale for breakfast/brunch at the Brookdale Lodge followed by whatever. WWWobble was in. So was Ted, a breakfast club rider who is usually available for a Wednesday ride.

Breakfast was great. Since I led the ride I’ll let WWWobble describe it, assuming he’s stopped vibrating from the ruts in Lodge Rd. A few comments, though:

I lost track of the number of gated roads I couldn’t take.
There were at least four wendepunkt (turning point), probably more.
I was only lost two or three times
I found several roads I’d never before ridden.
I didn’t find Mountain Charlie road.

Here’s what WWWobble has to say about the ride.

First a comment on the Brookdale Lodge. We didn’t eat in the building with the brook that runs through it, but the guy who was cleaning the bar opened the door into the dining area so we could get a good look at the main dining room. There is a brook that runs through it; nicely set dining tables run along the edge in an oddly formal manner. Elegant even. Likely the Captain won’t go there because they don’t allow fishing from the tables. You gotta order off the menu.

I can’t add anything regarding the number of gated roads we couldn’t take but I confirm there were more than a few. Regarding U-turns, I think four WendyPunks about covers it – the best in my opinion was the PracticePunk executed upon arrival – or more accurately the missed arrival – to The Beemer Shop where we went to ask Ted a question, but Ted was on vacation, so that will mean the completion of an even longer WendyPunk in the future. Are you following all this?

Marco didn’t look lost. Well OK, mostly he didn’t look lost. There was one rough patch on some bumpy little path off Hutchinson where we located a closed gate and executed one of the WendyPunks in a hard packed dirt patch to go return to Hutchinson and then down some other little trail to a bridge that we had just passed by a half hour before. Now, if you weren’t paying attention, this small detail could be easily overlooked. And if you did notice, remember we are the MidWeek Riders who love to take the long way to nowhere.

One of the roads none of us remember riding before is named Quail Hollow. It’s not long, but it’s lovely with a ranch spread out in a meadow with a lake. Warm breeze, flowers in bloom, who cares that we didn’t find Mountain Charlie. We found a hell of a lot of others. Great ride.

WWWobble