riding into June and the beginning of summer

[Crankin]

Had a pretty good 27 mile group ride, with just under 5 miles each way to the start and back from home. After about 4 miles, our group split in 2. DH was with me and went ahead of the leader, because he saw a guy with the same jersey! But, a bunch of other people did, too. They waited, after I spent considerable energy sprinting up a hill to catch them. The leader the reigned everyone in. Last year at this time, this guy (he is about 75-80 years old) was on death's door from cancer and now, I would say he rides like me, just slower on the climbs. A role model for sure. All familiar, local roads, with about 500 feet on a bike path. We had lunch at one of the member's house, just outside of Concord Center, overlooking the river. Nice, but we ate and ran, since I didn't want to be caught up in the traffic from the high school dismissal. The proceeds at the lunch went to the PMC.
It's bordering what I consider to be hot, about 80-82, dry, with enough puffy clouds and shade that there was a lot of respite from the sun. Going to relax now.

[north woods gal]

Speaking of gravel roads, we had a heavy rain, last night, and after a rain is a good time to hit our gravel roads. The rain tends to firm up the gravel and smooth things up a bit. Did a 25 mile loop, 5 miles of which was some really primitive back country gravel roads. Was ready to add another loop for the day, but noticed the clouds building up, so headed back for home. Got two miles from home and it started to sprinkle and at one mile out, started to thunder. Just beat the nasty stuff as I made it home. Glad I took the rain jacket.