LRRH News Feed

[yellow]

Velo News did it first...now we are following suit.

SadieKate, jobob, and Bubba arrived in Salt Lake last night. Here is Sarah singlehandedly holding up the bike trailer before they left Cali:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH015.jpg

And here is the Bike Bus, ready for departure:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH019.jpg

Once they arrived, we all got together and had dinner and Kolsch (that's beer) before retiring for the evening. In the morning, jobob and I took the puppy dog for a little stroll. It was a little warm out but Pi knows how to use the drinking fountain. So talented!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH023.jpg


After the walk SadieKate joined us for the BIG shopping spree (for dinner Saturday night) and a drive around the City. Here's an example of fine, high Utah art at the light rail station (those are bicycle wheels):

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH026.jpg

Stay tuned. We'll return after this short break.

[Lifesgreat]

1.5 hours until blast-off! I can hardly wait!

[bikerHen]

Where is everyone? I'm checked in and ready to party! yahoo
I'm on the computer in the hotel lobby. So we do a link to the rest of the world. :D bikerhen

[yellow]

Hi and welcome back!

Veronica, aka_kim, and SadieKate's friend Marty flew in to Salt Lake at around 12:30 MDT. We then met up for lunch at Cucina, a very nice little deli here in my neighborhood. Following that we went to Hatch Family Chocolates, where we had to decide what to get:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/IMG_1795.jpg

jobob was particularly fascinated with the "worms in mud", which are gummy worms dipped in chocolate. She thought they looked like something else ;) .

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/IMG_1796.jpg

And here we are, all decisions made. snapdragen, jobob is holding your box. We're hoping it'll make it back to California intact.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH029.jpg

(l to right, aka_kim, yellow, jobob, SadieKate, Marty, and Veronica)

Then we went back to my house to drop off the chocolates before heading off to my favorite bike shop and lo! There is a surprise box of more chocolate things. You can see by the tag who had them sent.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH031.jpg

Thanks, AG! I'm sure we'll enjoy that tomorrow (and think of you and wish you were here).

Over & out.

[jobob]

snapdragen, jobob is holding your box. We're hoping it'll make it back to California intact. Harrumph!

Well, as far as we know all the chocolate is safe and sound in yellow's house.

More specifically, in yellow's guest room.

Which is currently occupied by Veronica.

hey, waitaminute !

:D

[snapdragen]

Veronica! Keep your hands off my chocolate!!!!!

[bikerz]

You guys are having way too much fun, and you haven't even started riding yet!

Have a great time tomorrow!

[Bike Goddess]

Yeah, this pre ride stuff is just too good!:p :p :p :p

[Selkie]

I wish I lived on the West Coast. You girls have all the fun!

By the way, Yellow, that pooch of yours is something else. Loved that water fountain picture!

[tprevost]

Okay Ladies!

I know you are off at Casa Yellow (or in the hotel hot tub), HOWEVER, we over here with no lives are wanting to know everyone is safe and sound!

HINT HINT!!! :D

Tracy

ps. hope everyone had a great ride!

[jobob]

Back from casa yellow and heading to bed real soon ...

But I'm very happy to report that SadieKate, Veronica, Yellow, CindySue, aka_kim, Trekhawk, Marty, Bikerhen, and I all finished the century and live to tell the tale ! :D (I think I'm forgetting someone but please cut me some slack, long day plus beer & mojitos make for a few missing brain cells).

Twas' a blast. The last 20 miles or so I was questioning my sanity but that's typical for me.

Now if only I didn't go and leave my package of chocolate at casa yellow. argh. No fear snap you'll get your chocolate eventually.

[tprevost]

Congratulations Everyone! Glad to get the good news and I'm looking forward to the reports and pictures!

Trac' :D

[yellow]

Building on what jo posted...this was a successful first century (that's 100 miles in one day!) for BikerHen, TrekHawk, SadieKate's friend Marty, my friends Cyndi and Yau, Tater, and Avocet and her friend Betsy. Other notables (old hat to them): CyclaSutra, Lifesgreat, AuntieK, and sulis.

Oh, and jo...your chocolate spent another night with Veronica. No guarantees.

Pictures coming!

Oh! And TrekHawk is a MAJOR SANDBAGGER!

[tprevost]

ya know, I might have guessed that about Trekhawk! Thanks for confirming my suspicions! ;)

T~

[yellow]

What a beautiful day! Once we got through the registration fiasco, that is. SadieKate and crew met up with jobob and crew early enough to avoid most of it, but V and I didn't get there until about 7:30 (which is NOT late!) and the line was about 45 minute wait. This made me cranky. I ended up forgetting to put sunscreen on my neck, forgetting my extra packet of chamois butt'r, not getting to stretch, etc., etc. I was all discomboobulated after that but got better once I started riding.

We don't have a beginning ride group shot for you (yet), but here's Little Red herself, making sure we all know the rules of the road:


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH060.jpg


We were staggered at the beginning but ended up finding lots of AV jerseys later. Veronica, who took off with my friend Death-March-Martha (that means she rides hard and fast all the time, no exceptions), smoked us and then we never saw her again! :( But SadieKate and I ended up riding stints with aka_kim, jobob, TrekHawk (sandbagger!), cindysue, and my friends Cyndi and Yau Ming. We also ran into SadieKate's friend Marty, CyclaSutra, Lifesgreat, and sulis at the lunch stop:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH097.jpg
(l to r, aka_kim, SadieKate, jobob, yellow, cindysue, Marty, and CyclaSutra)

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH098.jpg
(l to right, yellow and Lifesgreat)


Because the line for lunch was so long, we decided to go ahead and ride into Idaho first before wiping out the sandwich bucket. But we needed to do a little map verification of where we were before we ventured out. Very serious stuff here.


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH049.jpg
(SadieKate & jobob)

And some bike maintenance:


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH048.jpg
(cindysue)

Once we took off, the vistas returned. Here's cindysue admiring the view:


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH080.jpg


and here we are at the state line, smiling after recovering from having to repair FOUR flat tires (among the riders), TWO of which were aka_kim's, who incidentally had no pump. Thank you cindysue for the rescue!


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH101.jpg
(l to r, cindysue, aka_kim, yellow, jobob, TrekHawk)


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH103.jpg
(l to right, aka_kim, cindysue, yellow, SadieKate, and jobob)

Everyone (that I saw) was still smiling at the end and we all agreed that it was a fun ride. We'll have to see how aka_kim rates it, as she bases it on food and since I don't really eat the food at these things, I can't judge. Veronica says that they need sodas and pretzels at the lunch stop.

We didn't talk about next year at the BBQ. We mostly sat around and yakked. Tater and Mr. Tater joined us and we got to hear all about life in Idaho and we ate and drank lots of carbohydrates. As you can see it was dark by this time...we didn't get around to eating until after 9 pm. This threw Mr. Yellow off. He was hungry and wanted to eat earlier. My reaction? "Hey! This is about us LRRH riders!"


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH057.jpg
(SadieKate & aka_kim)


Thanks for such a fun day, ladies. I am fundamentally a social rider and love happenings like this. What's next?

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH047.jpg

[bikerHen]

. . . and will live to tell the tale! I'm still in Logan, just had to get those miles posted on bike journal. :rolleyes: Ditto on trekhawk. She left me in the dust. You go girl. :D I, on the other hand, true to my claim came in almost last. I managed the blistering average of 13.6, which for my 102.63 miles I am quite proud. I had the perfect riding partner, Marty, and we pulled each other through those last, not flat, twenty miles. Marty you ROCK. :D It was a great day all around. The only things that hurt today are my feet and my rubbed raw girly bits. :eek: No one told me about that! More report later, when I get home. Although driving and sitting for a day and a half sounds pretty good. :D bikerHen

[tprevost]

You ladies are so awesome! I am leaving for bay area so will get to look more closely later but wanted to say GREAT JOB!!!

Bikerhen! Great Job Lady! I LOVE your average and you definately would've been pulling me along!

Trac'

ps. everyone have a safe trip home!!!

[Lifesgreat]

Fun pictures! It was great meeting up with all of you. Sorry I didn't make it to Casa Yellow after. The thought of 1.5 more hours in the car to drive up and back to SLC thwarted me. Bikerhen, thank you for making the patches and thanks to CycleSutra for the "In Wyoming, they still hang bike thieves" sticker.

Thanks for posting the pictures. Here is my visual souvenir of the day: The aforementioned and pictured bearded Little Red, standing on the left side of the road near the top of THE HILL before Newton-the last rest stop- (he was next to the Airstream) shouting to all the riders "You are almost there! You can do it!". That was pretty funny.

It became a real mental effort the last 15 miles or so, but zooming in the the cute little town of Mendon gave me the oomph to plug onward.

Yellow, you give me more credit than I deserve. I have never ridden a century, but hope to later this year or next. Yesterday's "metric century" turned out to be 69 miles.

It was a very fun ride. The weather was wonderful and the company was great. It was SO social! I told Hubster to picture a scrapbook or other craft-like group, but on bicycles.

I agree, they need soda at the rest stops.

I can hardly wait until next year. Well, parts of my body are glad it is 12 months away :rolleyes:

[Lise]

Hooray! I couldn't figure why I saw nothing about LRRH! Because I was looking in the wrong place! Now I'm going to go back and read the pre-ride posts. Thanks for all the pictures and stories. So much fun. Especially since I met Yellow, Mr. Yellow, and Ms. Pika just the week before. Enjoy the stories gals--I'm envious of the patch! :D :D :D L.

[bikerz]

Way to go, you guys! What a lovely sight to see all those AV jerseys lined up topped with big smiles! Looks like a wonderful day!

(Just noticed that on the first picture of all you guys - where Jobob is making the "V for Victory" sign - there's a cloud behind Jobo's head that looks like a halo! I guess that bodes well for Snap getting her chocolates!)

[Tater]

LRRH 2006 is in the books and what fun it was! My odometer says 101.2 miles, 6 hrs, 32 mins, and a 15 mph average. Cool! Unfortunately, I did not meet up with Yellow, Veronica and crew until after the ride at Casa Yellow's, but what a great group of ladies! Mr. Yellow can grill up a mean burger!

Here is a couple pics from my ride...The first one, I was stalked by the Big, Bad Wolf at Grandma's House. (Lunch stop)

The second one, he sat for a pic with me.

[Trekhawk]

Sandbagger reporting in.:D
I had a fabulous time at LRRH and it was great meeting everyone. A big thank you goes out to Jobob for making my first hundred a whole lot easier.
Jo is great company and I came away having learnt a few things more about cycling which is always good.

Glad everyone agrees that we did ride 100 miles because my stinky computer says we only rode 155 kms. All the metric girls out there would know that this does not convert to 100 miles you need to see 164.15 on your screen for that. I have had my suspicions about the accuracy of my computer for a while but now I think I can safely say its off a tad. So all sandbagging claims need to be aimed at my computer.:D

I have included some pictures but I have no idea how to get the names under them so you girls will just have to figure out who is who.

TE ladies that were at the ride - thanks for making the day fun and for all your encouragment.
TE ladies that I am yet to meet - thanks for all your great advice and support over the last year.

Yipee I made it.:)

[Trekhawk]

Glad everyone agrees that we did ride 100 miles because my stinky computer says we only rode 155 kms. All the metric girls out there would know that this does not convert to 100 miles you need to see 164.15 on your screen for that. I have had my suspicions about the accuracy of my computer for a while but now I think I can safely say its off a tad. So all sandbagging claims need to be aimed at my computer.:D



Ok Im blaming all those miles on my bike - yikes I hate correcting myself but 100 miles is not 164.15 its more like 160.9. My apologies to all you conversion gurus that just freaked about my terrible conversion skills:D

[bikerz]

Way to go Leslie! :) Remember how nervous you were about the 30 mile Lodi ride - and look at you now!!!!

[Lise]

I just assumed that I didn't know how to do conversions!
:rolleyes:

What does "sandbagger" mean?

Trekhawk, I am so glad to hear your story. I've never done an imperial century, but am planning to do one in the fall. I hope beta, maybe fuji, maybe other Chicago area TE'ers will do it with me. Sort of an LRRH o'the east!

[sulis]

Good Morning ladies

Thanks to everyone for sharing your great pictures. I always manage to forget my camera. It was nice to meet all you lovely ladies, even if only briefly.

I can only echo what the rest of you have already stated. It was a wonderful day. I rode the 68 miles with Lifesgreat and a friend of hers that we picked up after the first rest stop. It was a great course and I was completely impressed by all the effort those Big and Bad volunteers put in. They really pampered us ladies and made sure we had a wonderful day, didn't they??!! The course was breathtaking. Call me crazy but I actually liked that long hill :rolleyes: because I knew we would get to go down once we finally made it up!!! :D

Riding season is definitely in full swing for me. I have my share of funky tan lines under way, thanks to the gorgeous weather. And after Saturday the lines are getting more definitive. Right now I have the sexy sock line, the shorts line, watch line, glove line, the jersey line and thanks to the knee brace I had to wear, a lovely circular sunburn on the knee cap where the brace was open -- ooooh so sexy. duh me always forgets to put sunblock in at least one place ha ha ha

Have a great Monday everyone.

[yellow]

What does "sandbagger" mean?

sand·bag n.

v. intr. Slang
To downplay or misrepresent one's ability in order to deceive someone, especially in gambling.

:D

[jobob]

sand·bag n.

v. intr. Slang
To downplay or misrepresent one's ability in order to deceive someone, especially in gambling.

Eh, I prefer to think of it as keeping expectations low, so that when you do succeed, everyone is pleasantly surprised.
Including yourself.

;)

[CyclaSutra]

Girls, I had a fantastic time. It was great to meet so many of you during dinner and the ride. Glad you liked the stickers! I had to e-mail the dude from Laramie three times before he finally mailed them to me... I would have picked them up, but Laramie is 7 hours east of here.

What great energy from all the women! Someone told me 1,050 women registered before ride day.

I was pretty cranky about not getting on the road until 8:40, but I met up with like-speeded riders soon enough (and almost followed the 65 milers straight at one point, but Bikerhen and Marty helped me figure it out). Then I rode with them for quite a ways before trying to hook up with some fast gravy trains.

But I got in trouble, leaving the wrong way for the 100 right after lunch with some girls, and then when one got a flat (not my friends, not planned ride partners, and Little Red Riding Hood was there to help change it!) I kept going in pursuit of the ladybug team. Missed the top loop altogether so was at the metric length (65ish) at the final rest stop, which was supposed to be 17 miles from the finish. Yikes! I was 23 miles short! So I created my own loop by going left and around the bottom loop again, all by myself. So it sort of stunk being alone for the last 30 miles of a group ride, but I ride by myself a lot.

I couldn't believe that my average heart rate for the day was 150! I've never been able to hold that for 6.5 hours. I believe my average speed was 14.9.

Next year, I'm appointing a navigator, or at least getting one of those stupid $5 map holders so I will actually read the map.

Only 363 more days until LRRH 2007!

[jobob]

Random thoughts while the morning coffee kicks in.

TH, I love the photos you posted. I'm glad we have a picture of the whole group before we went off on our merry ways. And the look of joy (and relief!!) on our faces at the end says it all.

It was so fun riding into the finish with Trekhawk and CindySue. Bubba as well as Trekhawk's husband and her three adorable little boys were there at the side of the road cheering us on. TH's boys were too funny. One of them took off at a run and followed his mom to the tent, and the other two and dad caught up momentarily. They were soooo cute.

I overheard snippets of conversation among TH and her boys at breakfast earlier that morning and the words of encouragement they were offering her made me crack up. Can't remember verbatim but one of them said something about coming out to get her and towing her back with a a bungie cord if she needed it.

The AV jerseys really stood out. Although the six of us (me, Trekhawk, CindySue, aka_kim, SK and yellow) managed to ride together a great deal, more often than not the other four would soon be way ahead of me & Trekhawk. Which was fine, TH and I were very happy going at our own pace and she was great company. Then we'd round a bend and waaaay off in the distance we'd see a bunch of bright red jerseys, with the distinctive green off-center chainring logo, standing off to the side of the road. Yep, must be another flat! So TH and I would like to thank the rest of you for having flats at strategic locations so you never got very far ahead of us ;)

There was a nice breeze to keep us cool, which was great since I was worried it would be awfully hot - which it wasn't. The breeze did pick up some as the day progressed, but it looked like we'd have a nice tailwind for the ride back.

So when we did the 90 degree turn at mile ~ 75 which pointed us back towards the start, we had a lovely tailwind and we were cruising along at 18-20 mph with almost no effort. "Sweeeet!" I thought. "We'll be finished in way under 2 hours, and fresh as a daisy!". Silly me. About 5 miles later the wind did an abrupt about-face and we suddenly found ourselves riding into a headwind. Trekhawk mentioned something about learning things from me but she neglected to mention much of it was new swear words. :D The headwind wasn't that bad, and ordinarily the hills in the last 20 miles would not have been much effort at all, but truth be told I was getting tired. Many thanks to TH and CindySue for the words of encouragement and the occasional windblock!

Funny moment: We're chugging along and a gust picks up. CindySue's clear, lovely voice rings out "AGAIN WITH THE HEADWIND?!?!" It was hilarious.

What a great weekend.

[bikerHen]

Wow! What a weekend! :D From dinner Friday night to Sunday breakfast with Trekhawk and family, it was a weekend I'll never forget. It was great to meet everyone, and put a real person with your name. I thought the ride was perfect, with the exception of the aforementioned headwinds during the last 20, not flat, miles. Marty and I just kept plugging along and along until we finished!

CyclaSutra, you're great! From trying to teach me to draft to mooning me to show off your great tattoo. :eek: Sorry your hunt for the perfect gravy train got you off track. Maybe next year I'll be fast enough to keep up and help you stay on course. Marty, again thanks for being the perfect riding partner. Too bad we live so far apart, we could be training for our next century together. :rolleyes: And Trekhawk, it was great meeting and riding with you for a few miles anyway. Your family is great, and you are an awesome rider. :D

My ride moments? Meeting everyone, riding under the irrigation sprinkler for a quick refreshing shower, having a 14.5 MPH average for the first 70 miles, and finishing my first century. :D :D :D

My oh my gosh moment for the weekend? As I was driving into Logan, Friday afternoon I passed a guy jogging with another guy riding a bike fully loaded with touring packs. They were just coming to the top of a steep climb and I thought, they sure are fit. Well, fast foward to Sunday morning, I'm a little over a 100 miles into the drive home, truly in the middle of nowhere, when I see this guy riding his bike along the interstate. I think wow, good for him. Then about 100 yards ahead I see a guy jogging! It's the same pair I saw in Logan! :eek: All I could think was, My gosh I just drove over a 5000+ foot pass! Talk about being fit!!!

[caligurl]

great ride reports and awesome pics! thanx for sharing!!!!!!

[AuntieK]

I had a lot of fun at LRRH, ladies!
The weather, the ride, the company, and the route were all beautiful.
I enjoyed meeting many of you at the Friday night dinner. Here's a picture of us after our meal (sorry it's so dark):

942

I believe (I apologize if I've got some of you mixed up) this is
Yau Ming, Cyndi, JoBob, me, ljkl, Marty, Lifesgreat, CyclaSutra, BikerHen, TrekHawk, aka_kim, and one of the friends I brought along.

I wish I could have met more of you. I did pass some of the Amici Veloci jerseys at the beginning of the ride. I was the one who said, "Hello TE girls" as I passed. I would have hung out and rode with you if I wasn't in such a hurry to keep up the the group I was with. They were in a hurry to get finished because they had to be home by 5.

I managed to finish the 69.67 mile ride in 3 hours 54 min, with an average speed of 17.5 mph. I did manage to give myself a good case of road rash when I missed a turn, turned around and found myself in the gravel. Still mending that wound. :( But still I had a great time and am looking forward to next year.

Yellow, I will manage to meet up with you on one of these rides someday!
BikerHen, thank you for the very cool patch you made for me!
CyclaSutra, I love the sticker...still trying to find just the right place for it.

[yellow]

Great picture, AK. How can it be that we missed each other????? :confused: You kicked some serious butt. That racing training is paying off! Just think of the road rash as crit training! :p

Ladies, I want to thank those of you that traveled far and wide for coming to the ride and contributing to its grand-ness. I had such a great time meeting new friends, seeing old friends, and feeling like I belonged with a group of people again (live and in the flesh...not just online). I got a little melancholy last night after I said goodbye to the last of you. You are all my very fast friends!

(Blurry picture of me attempting to take pictures of people behind me. Learning curve is pretty steep on this activity. :rolleyes: )

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/LRRH091.jpg

[jobob]

Yep AuntieK, I remember you whizzing by me early on in the ride ! Nice riding with ya. ;)

Thanks for the dinner group shot. I think you have all the names correct, good job. I haven't gotten around to downloading my compactflash cards and wading through all the photos I took from the dinner. I'll get to it eventually !

[jobob]

Learning curve is pretty steep on this activity. Tell me about it.

A wee hint: Glance ahead first and make sure you're not about to ride into a crater in the road. Been there, done that, still don't know how I managed to stay upright and not drop the camera. :p

[Trekhawk]

Way to go Leslie! :) Remember how nervous you were about the 30 mile Lodi ride - and look at you now!!!!


Thanks bikerz and all you great girls - I have been thinking back over the last year and I really feel like I have learnt so much and Im pleased to say 99 percent of it is from you great ladies here at TE. I would never even be out at organized rides if you girls had not encouraged me all the way. See Bikerz look what you started with encouraging me to do the Lodi ride last November. My husband says that you have all created a cycling monster. :D

[Lifesgreat]

Yep AuntieK, I remember you whizzing by me early on in the ride ! Nice riding with ya. ;)



Well, it was nice for you TEs to keep flatting so I could catch up to you. :p

[maillotpois]

Wow - great photos and report you guys!! I almost feel as if I'd been there!

[Trekhawk]

Here is one of Bikerhen and Cuppas (thats SadieKates name for me) looking a tad nervous before the start.

I think I could have done with a good cuppa that morning but I left all my tea at home.

[SadieKate]

Now that I'm more recovered from our drive home, I'm going back to read more carefully.


Eh, I prefer to think of it as keeping expectations low, so that when you do succeed, everyone is pleasantly surprised.
Including yourself.

;)We're going to need to work on a team jersey for jobob, TrekHawk and BikerHen - TEAM SANDBAGGER. Just can't guite think of the right graphic . . .

[cindysue]

This was a really enjoyable ride - for the scenery certainly - but the best part for me was riding with so many friends - some I had just met for the first time.

Everyone was so encouraging. I was having a rough time of it - lots of leg cramps through most of the last 1/2 of the ride. Sarah had warned me about drinking water at that altitude and I really tried but I just couldn't get hydrated - a lesson learned that I need electrolytes in addition to water. I had my new bike but no bottle cages, so I just had water in my camelbak. I suppose drinking 1/2 a bottle of wine the night before and only getting 3-1/2 hours of sleep didn't help....... Well I spent the next two days drinking lots of water and making lots of trips to the bathroom

I spent most of the ride with Jo and Leslie (trekhawk), and also had the pleasure of riding quite a bit with Sarah and Sue and Kim. Only saw Veronica once on the ride - she had left us all in the dust :D. I would occasionally run into some of the other TE gals - and it was great seeing all the AV jerseys on the road. We received a lot of compliments on the jerseys from other riders. Too bad we didn't have some sort of card or handout with info on how to order.......

Riding up and back to SLC with Sarah and Bubba was great. I had the whole back seat to myself. It was fun chatting with both of them - but I think at one point Bubba and I put Sarah to sleep talking about endangered species and eminent domain (I can see you all yawning in agreement). I get similarly disengaged when Andrew talks about his work......

We arrived at Sue's beautiful home about 9pm - just in time for burgers and beer. The mojito was yummy - and it's probably a good thing we ran out of tonic water given my dehydrated state. I don't think I could ever match Brian's exceptional skill at making homemade beer, but I will take a shot at making some mojitos this weekend........

and the chocolate - yummy! I especially liked the white chocolate with peppermint pieces that AG sent. Sue sent us all home with a bag of chocolate. Mine melted on the road trip back - but I still managed to inhale most of it.....

[snapdragen]

We're going to need to work on a team jersey for jobob, TrekHawk and BikerHen - TEAM SANDBAGGER. Just can't guite think of the right graphic . . .
.....................

[yellow]

snap, it's too small for my eyes to see what the snail is towing! Help us out here!

[snapdragen]

snap, it's too small for my eyes to see what the snail is towing! Help us out here!
He's riding a razor scooter. Here's the whole picture. Really has nothing to do with sandbagging, I just love the visual....

[bikerz]

Look at that S-Car go!

(I'm sorry! Someone had to say it... :rolleyes: )

[SadieKate]

Somebody gag her.:p ;)

[bikerz]

:D I feel like I've been waiting all my life for the right moment to say (write!) that line! :D

[Adventure Girl]

Look at that S-Car go!Ohhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhh ohhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[slinkedog]

Look at that S-Car go!

(I'm sorry! Someone had to say it... :rolleyes: )

Yuk, yuk, yuk!! :)

[Trekhawk]

I hate snails but that picture is toooooo cute.:)

[yellow]

TrekHawk, glad to see that you are embracing the new title and your new team! :p

Back to the subject at hand, here is a photo that my friend Cyndi (not to be confused with CindySue) took. Appropriate for the all-women's ride. yes? What do you suppose the tonic is for? To make us ride faster?? :D

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/Utah06005.jpg

[SadieKate]

Yes, I've been waiting for that pic (and so has Bubba).

Tres cool.

[jobob]

Kim and Marty and I had a chuckle over that Saturday morning driving to the start, on the road to ...

oh Kim, would you like to finish this ? :D

[aka_kim]

Nah. Realize now that there's no "S" in "Road to Wellville", so we must have been on the wrong road.

But did you see the Olympic Torch? :D

[jobob]

And it was lit up!
Both of them, in fact. :rolleyes:

they'll never let me live this one down

[yellow]

And it was lit up!
Both of them, in fact.
You know, I think there are a couple of those Olympic Torches around you there in the Bay Area. When did they hold the competition in Martinez? :p

[jobob]

you are both such BRATS ! :p

[yellow]

you are both such BRATS ! :p
Jeeez...first snappydragen calls me a tramp (a while back) and now you call me a brat. I'm beginning to feel so much more dangerous.

BTW, I found a new picture for your avatar:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1/tasdan/Rides/LRRH/flare10.jpg

[Dogmama]

Thanks for the posts & the great pictures! What a ride!

[Lise]

Hey! We've got Olympic torches like that here in Gary, Indiana!

I think the Women's Tonic was mostly alcohol, to make you forget whatever it was you needed tonic for in the first place!

(North Centralite sneaking back out of the Southwest territory...:p )

[SadieKate]

Don't forget the laudanum shot.