Dear So and So

[Lise]

Dear Decision Makers of Lake Zurich, Illinois:

BLECH! Again I say to you: Blech! I stamp my feet at you! I make mad faces! Also ARGH!!!

I love the Lake Zurich Triathlon that is held in your little town every August! It is the focal point of my training! This year I was going to get to do it withOUT my dear friends (whom I love a lot but who can't be bothered to train yet want to do a triathlon so I end up waiting for them in every transition so we can finish together)!

I've been checking the tri's website diligently for on-line registration. I was not freaked out that it wasn't up yet, this is not a fancy tri, so the website isn't always up to date. But today it says "2006 Race Cancelled Due To Road Construction". This stinks! I'm sure our tri is low on your priority list. Maybe it's not even anybody in Lake Zurich who makes these decisions. Maybe I should be stamping my foot and making mad faces at the Great State of Illinois and their Dept of Trans.

I am very disappointed. I will take my tri-butt north of the border and do the Pleasant Prairie Tri the next weekend in Wisconsin. I will be back to do your tri in 2007. The roads had better be FABULOUS!!!

Disappointedly yours,

L.

[Nanci]

Dear _my_ UPS guy-

Unlike the other one, thank you for telling me exactly when my new bike, Lava, would arrive from far away California last summer. Thank you for offering to put her in the shed for me if I wasn't home so she would be safe. Thank you for always being friendly, and interested in my rides, and always looking out for my packages. I miss you when you're not on my route for a while.

Nanci

[fixedgeargirl]

Dear Little Hometown in the Mountains,

I miss you so much that I cry. Especially this time of year. I'll sure be thinking of you tomorrow as I miss yet another fabulous Fourth complete with log sawing competitions and street dancing and the water fight down by 2nd Street. Sure, I'll see you for a couple of weeks at the end of the month, but that just ain't enough. Tell everybody there to pray to the spirit of their choice that DS and I will be able to live there again sooner than later.

Broken Hearted ,

fixedgeargirl

[Lise]

Dear Little Hometown in the Mountains,

I miss you so much that I cry. Especially this time of year. I'll sure be thinking of you tomorrow as I miss yet another fabulous Fourth complete with log sawing competitions and street dancing and the water fight down by 2nd Street. Sure, I'll see you for a couple of weeks at the end of the month, but that just ain't enough. Tell everybody there to pray to the spirit of their choice that DS and I will be able to live there again sooner than later.

Broken Hearted ,

fixedgeargirl

Awww...I hear you. I hope you get home soon. L.

[Brandy]

Dear early mornings,

You're my new favorite time to ride! The sights, the smells, the periods of silence on a normally busy path and streets. I'll gladly start going to bed early so I can experience you more often.

Love,

up before dawn

[Bad JuJu]

Dear early mornings,

You're my new favorite time to ride! The sights, the smells, the periods of silence on a normally busy path and streets. I'll gladly start going to bed early so I can experience you more often.

Love,

up before dawn

I hear ya, Brandy! Yesterday for some reason I slept until 7, didn't get on the bike until 8, and thought I would die with the heat and humidity, plus the freakin' traffic. Normally, though, I'm up and out before any of that gets going. Let's hear it for early morning rides!

--Up before dawn, only on the Gulf Coast

[Tater]

Dear Lady in the pickup on 27th Street:

Thank-you for not right hooking me at the light this morning. I wasn't expecting a motorist to wait for me after the signal turned green, to clear the intersection before making a right hand turn. Usually four wheelers just haul azz like we bikers don't exist. Thanks for reinforcing my belief that this town is a pretty cool place to ride.

The commuter on the red bike