Weekend Update!

Like I said it was indeed a full weekend of pedalling!

Saturday we had Cindy n’ Greg, Tom, Ian, Brad, Linda T-P, Stewart, Melanie and Scott, Rick, and me rolling out from the West Side Christian School for the 2010 100 (and then some) Grand. And not too many miles in we had a chance to say hi to Bonnie, too.

What? I missed someone?

Oh hells yeah! Our own Kaat, celebrating one year of one-a-month (or more) century riding! Sweeeet. Some people start riding a bike and after a couple of years they try a century, maybe!

Anyway, it was a fine day for riding, and the 100(and 8) Grand is a nicely put-together tour, if a bit sadistic – really, do we have to have the hardest hills in the last 20 miles? We had a couple of firsts out there, with Stewart completing his first century ride (despite a rear tire that was determined to thwart him), and Ian, who was 14.997 years old yesterday, completing his first metric century. Nice job, guys! And let me repeat my thanks to Brad for his excellent all-day impression of a brightly colored locomotive. Imagine how fast he'd be with shaved legs!*

So, that's 108 miles on Saturday.

Sunday, of course, we had the marina version of Tour de Taco, and let me list the available facilities we enjoyed: grills under a gazebo, a pool, a playground, showers, wonderful soft grass, big carts for hauling coolers, and indoor parking! Seriously, the "host amenities" arms race has been taken to a new level! Despite unseasonably chilly weather we had fine turnout, in the persons of:

Cindy "Sandpaper" A.

Katie C.

Linda C.

Lynne G, who will be scoping out the new ride venue in Vermont in a few weeks

John "sad cookie" J.

Nathen K.

Chris "two tubes" M.

Stewart M.

Nicole N.

Chris R.

JD

And a bevy of Special Guest Stars:

Greg E.

Patti B.

Heather A.B.

Brian B.

Kathy H.

Berger & Joy

Aaand coachy types MC & did.

We covered, um, well, I dunno how much we covered, given the variety of route options available - somewhere between 18 and 51 miles, I guess! We certainly managed to dodge some weather bullets; I remain amazed that we didn't get poured on, and even more amazed at how we finished in full sun. MC rotated his hat into "grill chef" position and began producing vast quantities of fajita chicken for folks to tuck in to as they rolled in - and for arriving guests that included three-fifths of the remaining Machuta clan (continue beaming healing rays at Becky's elbow!), Ellie & Anna, a trio of Scheidels, Mrs. did and the didlet, and of course Maggie S.

Our next team ride is on Sunday the 20th - yeah, that's Father's Day. We're gonna try a new sorty "loopy" approach to routes that will easily allow shortening the ride. Hopefully that'll allow you to be able to get to any Father's Day festivities you've got planned - we'll let you know details later this week or early next week. Something relating to this that we'd like you to think about is how you'd like to structure your rides - who do you like to ride with, how fast do you want to go, etc. We've noted that our rides tend to get kinda fragmented, so we're thinking of sending folks out in smaller groups rather than in one horde.

We're also hoping that this approach will bring out some of the folks we haven't seen much of this year - we'd love to see everyone at some point!

On the "upcoming events" front, please watch your email! We have the Holland Hundred coming up in July, which will have some fund-raising opportunities for you.

Also, there are some fund-raising deadlines coming up that you need to be aware of, too - meeting those deadlines allows the chapter to make your travel arrangements earlier, which usually means cheaper, which means more money to researching a cure to Type 1 Diabetes!

Y'all continue to rock!

Coach did

*I kid, I kid. Except for when I don't. And even then I do. Sometimes. We're bringing a razor to Vegas.