Wild Goose Chase 2009

[Cataboo]

We had fun as well. My friend came up to my house on Saturday, and I started tweaking her mountain bike for her, raised her handlebars a bit, fixed the angle of her levers, changed the tires to some slicks I had, changed a brake cable and adjusted her rear brake...

Then I said, hey... why don't you try my surly?

She got on that, rode in circles in the grass & then out on the road and said... "OOOH this is wonderful! Can I ride this?"

I also managed to talk her into borrow my kayak instead of taking her sit on top.

So I was all psyched I talked her into speedier means of transportation!

We got in maybe about 6 on Saturday? Got into the B&B, and decided, okay, let's take a quick bike ride around town... went through downtown cambridge... started raining on us, and we ducked into snappers to have dinner. They let us put the bikes on the back deck. Can't say i was crazy about snappers, I saw the fried pickles you guys were talking about from last year.

I came back to our bikes after looking at the tent sale (I just grabbed a $10 pair of gloves and talked myself out of everything else) and there was a note from Zen on the surly! And she said that noone would remember whose bike was which!

We did the 25 mile ride, stopped in at the visitor's center & bought the water trails map - talked to the ranger guy for suggestions of what to do.

We were on the last maybe 5 mile stretch or so, and I ride past someone on a purple bike, and I'm thinking that's a pretty color and say, "oh I love your bike color" or something like that to the girl... go on a little bit and I hear "Hey, is your name Catriona?" Becky saw Julie on the surly, recognized it and called out... and then I felt like a retard 'cause Becky had posted pictures of her pretty purple bike and I had just noticed it and just not put 2 & 2 together. She did not have a coon skin cap on. I had completely told Julie to look out for a chocolate lab & a big guy with it though.

We grabbed lunch at a nice raw bar in town.. it was on race street, it was like jimmie & sooks raw bar or something. Got some really nice crab cakes, much better place than snappers.

Then we did a bit of the wildlife drive & put in... Kayaked for a bit, Julie wanted some drift wood, so she kept trying to yank pieces and had a little pile on the kayak by the end of the trip.

Pics are here if anyone wants to see lots of Julie and lots of grey skies, and this really cool stump that was sticking out of the water that looked like a dragon & i took a ton of pics of.
http://picasaweb.google.com/EyeofCat...ildGooseChase#

[Kalidurga]

Regina and Janice pretty much summed up my weekend. Like Regina, I owe many thanks to Janice-- First for calling the paddling outfitter and getting the great recommendation to do the Transquaking (though we really should've kept it secret ). Second, for being my pedaling buddy. If she hadn't ridden with me, the weather would've caused me to only do the 25 miler. I've now done my second-ever 40-plus mile ride

There was wind. It was mild, more of an intense breeze, but enough to make me cuss a little bit. Without it, Janice and I would've definitely had a higher average mph.

And, I tried Nutella for the first time. Damn those Terry people! The food stops, er, I mean rest stops were so much better this year. The pb&j and Nutella definitely got me through the ride (and possibly created a new addiction ).

Next year, I'd like to do this ride with some sunshine. That would be the only improvement I'd ask for.

Cat, your very cool photos reminded me: Janice let me use her camera when we were paddling since I had left mine at home. Have you uploaded the pics yet, Janice? Anything worth sharing?

[Becky]

What a great ride!

I did the first 20 miles or so on my own, because I was a little late getting out and missed the metric group. A train of women blew past me shortly before the rest stop, and I hopped on. We got to talking and I came to find out that they're from the same area of NJ that DH grew up in. I had fun riding with such a strong, friendly group, and averaged about 17 mph overall. I don't often get to ride with other women, so this was a real treat, and it inspired me to look for a regular club ride to join. Because I'm usually working Saturdays, I haven't done many club rides.

7- That may have been me, though the Bianchi has a chrome fork. I was telling my new friends from NJ how I'd first heard about this ride, and the cool women from the TE forums. I'm sorry that I missed joining up with you, Erica, and Kim, but I'm looking forward to another opportunity to ride together.

Catriona- it was great to meet you out on the road! I'm glad that I'd seen pictures of your Surly- I recognized it instantly. Once I put it and the Litespeed together, I was certain that was you! We'll have to make plans to ride again sometime soon.

What a great ride! I'm looking forward to doing it again next year, and hopefully getting to meet more TE women

[Zen]

A bike with red pedals, red tires and a very distinctive "Hello Kitty" bell is kinda hard to miss

[Becky]

Actually, for me, it was the flame stickers on the top tube that gave C's Surly away. I wouldn't have recognized it otherwise.

[Cataboo]

I shoulda put my spare flame sticker on the litespeed's top tube

[7rider]

I shoulda put my spare flame sticker on the litespeed's top tube

That would look HOT!!!

Oh....and I won a buff. None of the clothes were my size so I didn't even try for those. I do like the fact that the altered the raffles and liked the new format (drop your tickets in the envelops for the items you might actually be interested in).

[7rider]

Saw this on the Terry forum and, since I just went through this heartache myself....and was able to get my glasses back because of a good soul...I thought I'd spread the word:

--------
I dropped my Oakley glasses with clear lenses at the rest stop located at the intersection of Greenbrier and Bucktown road (Blackwater Paddle?). I went back to retrieve them and was told by one of the volunteers that someone had found them and was planning to turn them in at the High School.

I checked and checked with the event coordinators and by 3 p.m. they had not been turned in at the high school to any of the ride coordinators.

Does anyone recall picking up a pair of Oakley glasses with clear lenses at this rest stop? If so, please contact me as soon as possible. My email is hawillis0602@yahoo.com and my phone number is 917-478-2825.

Thanks so much!
Heather

[divingbiker]

Janice let me use her camera when we were paddling since I had left mine at home. Have you uploaded the pics yet, Janice? Anything worth sharing?

Here's what we've got. I wish the sky had been blue.

A couple of Regina:




An interesting log:


Me taking a rest:


The shoreline:

[Cataboo]

it looks a lot closer to blue than it did in the pics that I took kayaking on Sunday

[Kalidurga]

Vivid color mode on those little Canon cameras works wonders on grey days.

[Cataboo]

Vivid color mode on those little Canon cameras works wonders on grey days.

I've already fried a camera in salt water in the kayak.

So now, I have a waterproof pentax camera.

It probably has a vivid color mode, but in general if I took a picture of anything with color that day it popped in the photos... just everything was for the most part gray.

[divingbiker]

Vivid color mode on those little Canon cameras works wonders on grey days.

I also cheated by brightening them up a bit using the "Auto Correct" in Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

[Zen]

Photoshop and Picasa are close personal friends.