Whatta Day! Whatta Ride!

WOW! This past weekend was all about remindin' us why we put up w/ this crazy state of ours, huh? Talk about PERFECT!

We had a great ride today. The launch point was Ross-n-Karen Schueller's place in Jenison. Ross was ready w/ a great route - we did 50 miles in a big square around Jenison. Everyone rode well, the roads were good, no flats or other note-worthy incidents and even the headwind wasn't TOO bad! Sure...the last 1/3 of the ride got a little "roll-y" but nothing that we couldn't handle. (Expect a dissenting post from Katie Clark regarding that last sentence!) The only "interesting" little interlude was when we discovered that Scott's tire had sunk into the road tar during a brief break! He and I had to wrest it from the grip of the tarmac and scrape of the huge wad 0' tar from his tire w/ sticks. Can't say that I've ever seen that!

Upon our return to casa de Schueller we were greeted w/ B-B-Q chicken, grilled corn, peppers and other veggies, 4, count 'em 4 pies, brownies, chips and assorted other goodies. Much fellowship was observed being had and we're gonna hafta put this ride up on the scoreboard as a big success!

Riders - Steve and Katie, Linda and Scott, Brian, Derek, Kevin O, Sara, Lorna, Carmen, Ross and myself. My wife Lin and Chris joined us after the ride as well.

This coming Sunday (7/13) there's a Yoga For Cyclists class being offered @ the Satya Yoga Center in Saugatuck. Brian's wife Heather will be the instructor. I went to one of these earlier this season and I thought it was great. Highly recommended! There's a group ride @ 10:30 and the class is @ noon. Brian and I are gonna meet up earlier to get some more mileage...we'll have details soon.

Looking ahead at the rest of the month....things are getting busy! Herb and Brenda have their poker party/cook out this Saturday, the Holland 100 is the 19th (we are going to have a JDRF post-ride party on New Holland's patio...there will be an opportunity to work it and score some donations!), we have Derek, Nicole and Stev & Katie's ride/brat fest/salsa competition/pool party on the 20th, a ride from Linda & Scott's on the 27th, Ann's pool party on 8/3 and then...............ASHEVILLE!!!!!!!! Holy Crap!

No wonder everyone in Sonoma asked me how the West Mich Team got so big and cool so fast! We just are!

Remember Death Valley Riders - we're gettin' c-l-o-s-e to the time cutoff for booking airfare! You each need a minimum of $750 in your accounts by July 18 before they'll purchase your plane tickets! Make sure that you are all set there and that Mary knows your travel plans!

Okay - that's it for now. I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend, filled w/ miles and smiles.

I hope to see you on the next ride!

MC