Ahhh, the last team ride of August

Yeah, nice, wasn't it? It was about 20 degrees cooler than it was last year, downright chilly in the morning and incredibly pleasant in the afternoon. The company for the day:

Cindy

That Rob Guy

2 Clarks from Holland

2 Clarks from Grandville

2 Coury Lads

2 Dykstras

Mike H

J2

2 Machutas

Dawn M

Stewart

3 Scheidels

Brad not-fork-or-knife-er (yeah, I'll never get tired of that)

Diana S.

JD

LTP

John VDB

Chris R

SGS/Hosts Paul & Kami W, who deserve our unending thanks for AGAIN opening up their wonderful house to the Horde of Us! The place is really beautiful, the setting, the water, the deck, the grill, the available routes to ride - you name it, this is a total highlight of the summer! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!

So, 30 hilly miles - how'd that feel? Then 42 somewhat less hilly miles? Not too bad? Fun? Cookies? Looks to me like we did a pretty good job of following the really-important-rules that MC laid out a couple of days ago, with the staying 2 abreast, and getting good and narrow when there's a car back. Always keep that in your mind, whether you're riding alone or with a group; when you are with a group, keep communicating with each other - "I'll go ahead" or "Go ahead and pull in front of me" are things you're gonna want to be saying, hearing, and thinking, especially when we're in single-file-only Death Valley.

This weekend is Labor Day weekend, so we don't have any pre-planned team rides - but I'm pretty sure we'll have some opportunities for ya. I'll start with Monday, since that's more solid at this point - Kirsten D. and Sarah A. are doing the Honey Creek Duathlon, and we're planning to add some miles after that. The race is at 9:30 in the morning, so we figure that around noon we'll roll from Townsend Park, and do between 30 and 40 miles at a nice, easy, post-race pace. If you're interested, pester me.

We'd also like to do something on Sunday, and I'm open to ideas - anyone got any needs or wants or wishes they'd like granted (as long as they involve turnin' the cranks), again with the pestering me. If I don't hear anything by, say, Thursdayish, I'll make something up. I've got 50 to 55 miles in the back of my head, but that's just a barely-formed thought.

The next official team ride will be on September 17 from New Richmond Park in GR, and will include our making an appearance at the JDRF Walk event. How's that for cool?

Keep riding, raising, loving and rocking -

did