Gentlemen on Bikes,Just an official 'thank you' for the fab bike trip yesterday.
After setting off for Iowa City in the glorious morning hours and waiting in the shade with Mr. Spitz, while Feist bike repair attended to Joe's flat, the day unfolded marvelously well.
Going into Brighton, Gary took off for the gas station, and a few minutes later, a select few of us were almost treated to the "Full Spitz" by the restroom....(Note to self: Consider managing gig composed of biker dudes, along the lines of "Thunder From Down Under". Motto (Jerry's suggestion) "We do it on the Road". Quick bucks for new, fancy bikes. Any investors out there? Sol, Alan....???)
On the way to Washington, Sol and the gang showed their true colors and blazed off into the beautiful morning, keeping a brutal & fast pace, while Jeff performed turtle rescue of a leather back which scurried away as fast as his fat little legs could carry him once released near the river's edge.
I was under the misapprehension that we were keeping a good pace, but once Jerry and Chaz joined the group in Washington, they took charge and set a proper fast pace. Tom departed Fairfield ages later than the rest of us, biking the back roads and joined up in Washington, yet looking like he'd never broken into a sweat. Next time, perhaps we'll just tell Tom when we expect to do lunch in Iowa City so he can join us there in half the time it takes novices like myself to bike 60+ miles.
In Riverside, sadly we missed the annual Star Trek festival. Imagine biking into town, fully dressed in Star Trek outfits. Who'll be our own Captain Kirk? Ran into Greg Titus who lead us on a fast sprint along the crummy roads into Iowa City. Thankfully, expert mountain biker Alan Marks was on hand to offer advice, specifically, how to handle road bikes on the obstacle course excuse for a road we traversed. Just for fun, Joe and Jim took off, again.
After a brilliant lunch at the Bread Garden, the group departed Iowa City along the splendidly fast and scenic roads towards Riverside. It was looking like a lovely, easy ride home to Fairfield, however, when we turned west on W22, what seemed like gale force winds hit us straight in the face. (And I want you all to know that as we were battered by winds going up towards Iowa City in the morning, Alan turned to me and said "looks like we'll have a tail wind coming home". Later, as I was frantically trying to staying upright on my bike in the nasty wind gusts, I considered mentioning that as a profession, heavy duty investments is the way to go for Mr. Marks. If Alan joined the Weather Channel, I for one, would complain.)
Arrived back in Riverside with gritty teeth and eyes from the fierce winds and enjoyed yet another lovely sit down in the shade before heading back to Washington. Going out of Riverside, I made the mistake, again, of trying to hitch onto the wheels of Joe, Jerry and Chaz. Thankfully, Joe took pity on me, circled back a bit and brought up Tom and Jim, who quickly set a nice (but brutal) pace going into the head-on gale winds. With Joe now in the lead, trying to catch Jerry and Chaz in the far distance, Tom, Jim and I did intervals, hitting 21-22.5 mph. (Note to self: After doing 90 miles on a bike, do NOT get fooled into thinking I can get away with 22.5 mph sprints going into brutal head winds).
Loud cheers and congrats to Sol, Jeff, Jim, Joe & Tom who did the entire round trip (did I leave anyone out? ). And thank you to everyone for making me laugh and keeping me entertained the entire day. You guys are the best!
Kristina
It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.
-Sir Winston Churchill
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