July 29th rides

[Crankin]

Did 40 miles, about 33 with with my club. I chose the shorter ride, which was fine because it was humid out, but cloudy, so not so scorching. It was nice because our group only had 10 people and the other group had 30. I rode to the ride, and we did a loop around all of the roads I usually ride, but in a backwards direction. When we got back to Concord center, we went on to Bedford, where we visited a former member of the club who lives in an assisted living place. He has a collection of cycling memorabilia that was on display in the lobby. Most of it was art work that probably is worth a fortune, and few photos from the track races they used to have in Cambridge (where Major Taylor raced). Our leader wanted to wait until the longer group of riders came, so I had to hang around longer than I wanted to... finally, they arrived and the leader stopped at the "lunch stop," but since it was already 1:30, I just wanted to get home. I lead a group of 6-7 back, trying to catch 4 of the fastest men who headed out ahead of us. I couldn't catch them, but one guy fell back, so I rode with him, until he pooped out. I waited for the group, to give them directions back to their cars, and then headed home.
One interesting thing that happened was before we went to visit the guy, we were stopped by a giant tree that had fallen across the road... police and fire had to redirect us. All in all, one of my better group rides; since there were only 10 people. Some are squirrelly, but I know who they are. Ever since my crash 2 weeks ago, I am not so enamored of groups.

[pfunk12]

During my ride home from work today, I was close to home and starting to fly down a hill when I spotted a little boy on the sidewalk selling lemonade. I yelled, "Lemonade?!" and when he said yes, I had to slow down and do a U-turn and try to get back up the hill. He said, "You are the first person on a bike to buy lemonade from me during my lemonade career." I said, "So you do this every summer?" and he said, "No, just this summer." He was 8-years-old and a real cutie. He made my day.

[7rider]

During my ride home from work today, I was close to home and starting to fly down a hill when I spotted a little boy on the sidewalk selling lemonade. I yelled, "Lemonade?!" and when he said yes, I had to slow down and do a U-turn and try to get back up the hill. He said, "You are the first person on a bike to buy lemonade from me during my lemonade career." I said, "So you do this every summer?" and he said, "No, just this summer." He was 8-years-old and a real cutie. He made my day.

And I'm sure you made his day, too! No, wait. His career!
I'm going to miss our neighbor's daughter, who every summer sold all sorts of things at the foot of her driveway. DH and I would come back from a ride and end up buying cookies, lemonade, and these ice-slushy things ("What flavor is pink??").