Monday, September 04, 2006

Long Weekend

Friday, Robbie came home. She is using a walker to help with her balance, but is doing well and is in fairly good spirits. She can't do what she wants, when she wants and it has made her a little grumpy. People from her work are bringing food over, and we still have a cold cut tray I got from Debbie where I work, Thank You all! Life is starting to get back to normal, sort of. I'm a little worried about the radiation, it's not supposed to be nearly as bad as it was for her breast cancer, but you never know. Keep up the prayers.

Saturday, I got in a club ride with the Greenwood group, Russ and I on fixed gears, of course. Dr. Bill Evans shows up with his quickbeam as a singlespeed, but he has a track cog on the flip side of the hub. I'll post pix later. Bradley Cox makes an appearance with his new Grostiener Specialized. I jokingly ask him if it's plastic or aluminum. His mom laughs, but I'm not sure if he caught the joke and he tells me it's aluminum. Jim, Bradley's uncle shows up with his pink sox and bar tape. John Lake and Drew Richie round off the group. We settle on a route and head down the rail trail. Russ asks me, in a bad Irish /Scottish accent,"Ya eat yer oatmeal lad?", at witch I reply with an equally bad, if not worse accent,"Aye". We take a right at the end of the trail and enjoy the countryside and nice weather. Soon Jim and Bradley are up ahead and I can't let them do that, so I give chase and catch them. I stay on Jim's wheel, waiting for Bradley to try his new bike, but he doesn't take off. Shortly Bill streaks by and yells,"Come on you slow pokes". I give chase and stomp up the next hill, fully expecting Bradley to be in the mix, he wasn't, oh well. Shortly after Jim and Bradley peel off to head back and the rest of us rolled on. It was a good ride, I got just under 30 miles in. Russ, John Drew, and I went across the street for lunch and had a very deep discussion ranging from biodesel, to Islamic extremist, to the antichrist, it was a full day.

Sunday, stayed home, slept late and got some R&R, nothing worth writing about. Just an e-mail about Penny spitting(your secret is safe with me).

Monday, Labor Day, no work, so I got a ride in with the Laurens folks. I was checking my e-mail before I left the house and saw where Steve Irwin, The crocodile Hunter died. I was a bit shocked He has a little girl about the same age as Miranda, and a son not yet three. I feel for his family. The irony is he was killed by a stingray, a very non aggressive animal. Only 17 people world wide have been killed by stingrays. One would have thought that a venomous snake or a croc would do him in. I'll have a Foster's in honor of ol'e Stevo. I rolled out of my driveway digesting that bit of news just after 7:00. I just missed the dogs on Brown Rd. and made it to the Bi-Lo in Clinton with time to spare. It was a pretty big group, but started out foggy. I was beginning to worry when my glasses fogged up so bad that I could see better with out them. At one point David Craig nearly bought it when he hit some uneven pavement, he dropped his water bottle and pulled to the side of the road, then he hooked left infront of me. Definitely a high pucker factor moment. I missed him, but not by much. It reminded my of one of Jim's stories about Norm. Our route lead us to Bush River rd. and some of the group elected to head back to town and the rest decided to follow the 30mile FOTD route. I told Adrienne that I would be home by 11:00 so she could go to lunch with one of her friends. So, at around 9:30 I was thinking of picking up the pace to get home on time. At a stream crossing I build up a little momentum on the downside and catch Dan and David C. on the up side. I pull past and slow a little to see if they would catch up. They didn't, they wanted to take it easy. I soon find Jose on my wheel and pick up the pace. At some point I look over my shoulder and he is no where to be seen. Half way up Old Milton Rd. I down a gel and maintain a good pace, as I wash the gel down I raised my bottle to a couple of hunters as they wave. Old Milton is a piece of work, it looks flat, but is a steady shallow climb that can demoralize you if you didn't know it's secret. I had 40 miles under me and was maintaining a 18-17mph average. This is pretty good, but by the look of the grade one would expect to pull off 20 easy, not so. I make it to the light where the road crosses Hwy 72 and becomes Charlotte's Way. The light turns green and I go straight. I pull into the drive at 1045, early with 54.6 miles for the day.

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