horrible! At least the weather was good, because you can handle anything in 70 degrees with the sun shining!

I set out with two girlfriends and my brother-in-law for a short 15-20 mile ride. 5 miles out we had just completed the first big hill, and everyone was ahead of me. I got to the top and was shifting up to get ready for the downhill when my chain came off. I looked down at it and realized that I also had a flat on the front. Luckily, I did not fall off this time! I waved Doug back to help me and we changed it pretty quickly. Started off again, and about another three miles passed, and my friend Keri and I were trailing and lost the others at a red turn light. While we were waiting for traffic to clear to get into the lane, her chain came off! Two other cyclists were coming by at that moment and offered help, but we didn't need it. Followed them for a bit and caught up to Doug and Tiffany. The two other cyclists were a little slow, so Keri and I decided to pass them. We went another 2 miles or so and realized Doug and Tiffany were not behind us, so we stopped to wait for them. Didn't see them, so we turned around to find them. Tiffany had slipped off the edge of the road and crashed! She was bloody on both knees and one elbow and when we got there Doug was rinsing her off with a water bottle. After a brief discussion of whether or not to call her husband, we set off again.

Heading home, we approached the last big hill of the ride. Doug blew past us and got to the top quickly and turned the corner. Tiffany was leading, I was drafting her and Keri was drafting me. Right before the hill, we heard "PFFFT!" Tiffany had blown her rear tire. Well, we are three strong women, so we got the stuff out to change it. I had the tire off and the tube out and Tiffany was hurting and trying not to whine too much before Doug realized we weren't behind him. He came back to see what was up, and helped finish the tire change. But, (and this is the best part of the story!) he had ridden through a swarm of bees on the way up the hill and had bees in his jersey when he got to the top! I was only wishing we hadn't missed the dance at the top with his jersey over his head, trying to get the bees out!

We limped home and the whole thing (17 miles) took us 2 hours because of the problems. Keri's husband, who hadn't come, said, "The more I ride with you guys, the more I think I shouldn't!"

Ah, well, at least the weather was good!

Happy Mother's Day!