Awesome Day for Riding.....

When I started to type the title for this blog post, several others came up in the computer's "memory" that started with the word "awesome," so I'm thinking that's a word I use way too often. I'll work on that.

Today, however, was an AWESOME day for an AWESOME bicycle ride with AWESOME people.

It's a ride we have done before, in a part of the state known for beautiful countryside, lots of horses, and not much traffic. The day started off a little cooler than I would have liked. We went from shorts and sleeveless on Friday to tights and a long-sleeved t-shirt under our riding jerseys. Oh, and socks with our cycling Keens. I didn't care how it looked; my feet weren't cold. That shift in weather is pretty typical for our part of the world. We'll probably shoot back into the 90's sometime in the next week or two.

If I HAD to complain about ANYTHING on this ride (and you probably suspected I would), it would be the winds. They started out annoying but became brutal by the end of the ride. It's very demoralizing trying to ride a bicycle in the wind. It's ALWAYS a headwind, no matter which way you turn. I know, I know, it defies the laws of physics.

We rode 66 miles, and we weren't last. Well, Katydid and I rode 66 miles. Rozmo probably rode about 80 because she kept doubling back to see where we were. We weren't really THAT slow, but we just can't make that tandem power up the hills the way we would like.

The last two riders included one guy who had no helmet, and the rules clearly stated that helmets are required. Helmets are required on every single organized ride I've ever been on. Oh wait....I'm not being fair to this guy. He HAD a helmet. It was in a plastic trash bag safely stashed on the rack behind his seat.

Huh?

This ride was a little different from a lot of rides we do because Katydid and I were still laughing at the end. Usually we start off laughing and singing, but by the time we've ridden 50 or 60 miles, we aren't in our happy place anymore, and we start snarling instead of laughing. Not at each other or Rozmo (thank goodness), but at anyone else who crosses our path. It gets awfully quiet on that tandem, unless one of us is whining about how much certain body parts hurt or the wind or one more hill. Now Rozmo, she's upbeat all the time. She probably would have had nice things to say to the two redneck guys who threw a bottle of water at Katydid and me as they passed by at about 60 mph. [Me? I gave him the international one-finger symbol of love.] Today, in spite of our aching knees, the wind in our faces, and the chill in our bones that hasn't been there for a while, we were still having fun at the end.

We sang, we laughed, we followed both the Falcons and the Braves in their respective contests (both ended with a win - yay!), and we thanked the wonderful volunteers. We had hot dogs at the end of the ride, and that may be the BEST hot dog I've ever had in my life.

[I must be more tired than I thought. I just started typing a paragraph and realized I had already said all that up at the beginning of this post.]

Bedtime now, and I don't even have to get up in the morning. But I can't hold my eyes open anymore.

Have a wonderful week!

Have I told you lately how much I appreciate your stopping by and reading my blog? No? How rude of me.

I do.