Friday, June 4, 2010

Making Plans

I've had some nice rides in the past couple of weeks, so I thought I'd update even though I'm not sure anybody visits this blog anymore.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have been occasionally attending the Bike Pedalers 6 pm ride.  This is a no drop ride - so far the ones I've been on have started out quite easy, with a destination in mind like the Bridges or Pioneers Park.  Once at our destination, everybody does some laps at whatever pace - the racers take off, guys like me try to hang as long as possible, and then we all regroup at the end to ride back to town at a nice easy pace again.  This structure makes a lot of sense, as it lets everybody get some work in, but still feels like a no drop group ride.

I've tried to hit some of the Wednesday rides when my schedule allows.  There has been a disappointingly low turnout from teamFIRE members - this has basically turned into a Great Plains ride.  One night a couple of weeks ago, however Jace, Greg, Dennis, Kelly and I were all there to ride - that was fun.  Kelly and I are usually the only teamFIRE members there, though - I have enjoyed riding more with Kelly as he has also come to some of the Bike Pedalers rides.

On Memorial Day, I rode with a large group that left from the bench - they wanted to stop to take off some layers (the morning was a bit chilly), and Kim C. was on a schedule, so along with Chris H., the three of us took off to do the Cortland and the Hallam loop on a beautiful day.

Wednesday, Kelly B. and I were the only teamFIRE members to show again, and the GPBC group wanted to go to Sprague (with a northwest wind) we decided to wait and see if anybody else showed.  When nobody did, we took off with the intent of going out to Emerald.  When we got to Pioneers park, we ran into Janna, who was waiting for Conrad.  The four of us took off - eventually heading out to Pawnee Lake, with a stop at Merle's in Emerald on the way back for a burger and a brew - don't do this if you're in a hurry to get home, because they're not in a hurry to serve you.  We almost got home before dark - but not quite.

Discussions with Kim, Chris, Janna, Kelly and Conrad during the last two rides produced the following plans (hence the Making Plans title to this post)

1) We need to start up the 8 am Saturday morning ride from the old Wilderness Perk strip mall again.  I won't be there this Saturday because of a funeral - but promise to show after that if others will.

2) Next Friday (June 11) we need to do an FAC.  More details to follow - email notifications will be forthcoming.

3) In two weeks, on Wednesday June 16, we agreed to meet at the bridge at 6 pm for a ride which will end at Las Margaritas.

Hope some of you cycling recluses will join us.

5 comments:

nicol said...

How long did that Wednesday ride take? How far away is Pawnee?

Bob K said...

It was about 39 miles from my house. It took about 2:20 to do the ride - but another 1:15 sitting at Merle's waiting for our food meant I got home at about 9:30. That's why we decided to eat a little closer to home when we do it again in a couple of weeks.

gravy said...

This reminds me, I've got to get new tires!

I rode out to Indian caves a couple weekends ago and went camping. On the return trip, I had flat issues between Auburn and Nebraska City. Never did find what caused the flats. I don't trust them to stay air-worth.

kevin said...

This cycling recluse will try to attend the FAC and/or the Margarita event.

KimC said...

Bob...the plans sound good. I won't be able to ride the next 2 Saturdays but there after it should work. FAC plans sound good as well!

kew...hmmm...forgot whom that is...