[EDIT: Charles texted me to mention that he found some keys on the route as he rode up after the group.  He dropped them off at the Northampton Police Department -- thanks Charles!]

It was a lovely evening for tonight's Westhampton hillclimb, with sunny skies and seasonable temperatures. A bit of a wind from the west kept the times on the slow side, with no PRs tonight. We had a group of eleven at the 5:30 start, with several riders having ridden in earlier in the day, and a couple riding a bit later.

Ryan took off from the gun and gapped the field right away, on his way to a wire-to-wire win by almost two minutes ahead of Garret. I settled in to a sizable group for the first half up to Outlook, but Andy pulled away, and a couple other riders dropped off, leaving Richard and me solo for most of the second half. I clung to his wheel but couldn't match his acceleration at the end.

Waiting at the top, we were treated to a low overhead flyby from a Great Blue Heron, and then on the descent had to dodge a Turkey Vulture peeling a squirrel off the road and flying away with it. Nature!

Joe texted me his time this evening from a ride earlier in the day, but it turns out he went to Williamsburg and did the wrong climb. I am going to give him a participation point for the effort.

Next week is the Deerfield Time Trial (note to Joe: just west of the Sunderland bridge, goes north on River Road :-).