Saturday

Woke to a crisp 48 degree sunrise this morning. Not sure why I woke so early but was glad a did. I had time to eat and let it digest before riding. I rolled out at 7:20 and met the Carti riders for an 8am ride leaving Burns Park and heading out to the farmlands and Scott community.I

t is a training ride and some of the riders are new so there is a little antsy feeling going on in the middle of the group. Everyone was having a good time and the morning was just beautiful. I took off my wind shirt when I got to Burns because it warmed up pretty fast on the ride in.

We kept it at about 17-18mph on the way out until a couple of guys took off. I was in mid-pack and couldn't seem to get a break long enough to chase. The front group got about 50 yards ahead and stayed there until the first rest stop for regrouping.

After the break we headed towards Scott and I was right behind JBar and Keith H for the lead out. Next thing I know a dude on a bike with areo bars came flying by and of course that set the stage. We go! There is a breakaway group and I'm a few behind and I thought areo-bar-man was going to keep it going but he blew. 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17 Ok, I gotta pick up a bit so I go out and around and me and a doc from the hospital cruise on out at 22. I pulled and pulled and pulled and then I couldn't figure out if they turned and they didn't but when I slowed down doc thought I was blown and whizzed around and I jumped behind to cruise on in to regroup area #2.

On the way back we caught a little head wind but not bad since we got to turn and then had great tailwind pushing us along. I rode with Dan H for a bit and we talked about his trip (cruise) he had just taken. One of the stops was Jamacia. I asked him if he liked it and he said no. I was surprised because all the commercials they run on the tube make it look great. Said the people aren't friendly. Ok, I'll mark Jamacia off the list as places I want to go.

I headed on to try and jump on the front group but was back to far and the wind was acting a fool! Paul B and I got us a little train going on and cruise at 23 on into NLR. Paul is a great guy to be around and I always enjoy my rides with him. Same with Dan H. Just good guys.

After the ride we all stood around sharing stories of wind, attacks, some car that flipped off the front group, etc. Then I headed on to Sherwood to the house. Rolled in at a little after 11.

Ended the morning with 55.43 and a 17.6 average speed. Should have been higher but had headwind and a big hill on the way home. All in all it was a most excellent day mate!