Adventures of the Northwest

The rest of the weekend and PROS ride

Saturday, I woke up and headed towards Gary’s house. He is a ride leader for our bike club and was hosting a PROS meeting so we could be organized for the PROS (Perimeter Ride of Seattle) ride occurring on Monday. It was a good, yet long, meeting. We were supposed to go ride our bikes afterwards but we didn’t. I was glad since I started not feeling well again with a bit of allergies trying to creep up. I decided my body was saying to slow down so I did. I relaxed the rest of the day/evening. I hung out with someone a bit at the book store on Saturday night a bit late but that was ok. It was relaxing and had to get done. On Sunday I slept in until 9 am. I read a book for an hour, cooked breakfast, read a book, napped, read a book, napped and then took a hot bath. I kept reading emails from Jill, one of the track divas, regarding her visit to Louisiana. So much pain and suffering down there. So much mass confusion but she is holding strong down there with what they have.

I then got a call from my friend who let me come over and helped me set Milly up a bit more properly. That was great. It was a fun visit and still relaxing so it didn’t wear me out. As I hung out with my friend, I learned a lot about how he used to work at REI as a bike mechanic back on the east coast. Specializing on Litespeed bicycles but able to work on others. He was so excited to work on Milly! He treated her well and I got to hear about his old racing days. He even showed me some vintage (80’s) type items such as the water bottle cages, pedals… and the crème de la crème – to see his old Pinnarello. Wow! Such a sweet bike! Bright red and beautiful. He is going to make it into his winter riding bike which will be very cool. He said that the ‘axle’ broke at some point which broke the drop outs. He had someone weld it but it was never the same after that and he pretty much stopped racing (crits, etc.). That sounded very sad! He also said his cyclocross bike is the first bike to really fit him properly.

Taking a trip down memory lane through our conversation and seeing the older bike parts, I’ve been thinking about that and realized yeah not until I got my Lemond did a bike fit me well. I think my Ti bike fits me a bit better (handlebar wise, etc). When I was growing up I had only one women’s frame bike that always seemed too small and I didn’t like the geometry. Finally, my mom bought a blue men’s frame Schwinn bike for me. I was stretched out, perhaps way too much, but I liked the feel of the bike. I had pink cello tape put on it. I realized, not able to sleep, why I am having so much fun with Milly. Milly is beautiful and sleek looking in her all black attire with chrome details. To have her in flamboyant colored accessories will make her so bright and happy looking. I don’t like dark things especially in the winter time. It changes my mood so I like to have festive, lively and fun colors around me. Milly has a personality all her own which will be loud and clear to those that see her: she is happy and fun!

I came home and passed out. I was completely exhausted.

Monday I woke up and picked up Erik, one of the track buddies, to go to the PROS ride. We went and it was great. Such a good turnout with approximately 100 people and great weather, great route, great scenery and great people! It was a lot of fun for me to be a ride leader/sweep and to see everyone enjoy themselves.!!! Dan Wakefield and Jean-Philippe did a great job in both creating the route and advertising for the ride. This was a ride put on by the Seattle Bicycle Club and Native Planet. What amazing men these two are! What amazing volunteers we had that brought all this together - organization, fun, safety, etc. in such a short time! Without all those people, all their happy and energetic karma this ride could not have been successful. The power of people bringing together so much experience and knowledge to create such a wonderful event was overwhelming. I hope Jean-Philippe's Native Planet organization will really benefit from the ride's success! On a personal note, my legs felt well rested and I was surprised, and quite happy, at how easy the hills felt on Monday. I felt like they were not challenging me hard at all. I felt strong, I felt good, I felt alive. We had a blast and then I came home to veg out for the rest of the evening. What a weekend it was!!! Couldn’t have asked for much more than lots of fun.

posted by Seattlebiker @ 10:57 PM