Sunshine, Sprinklers and Cycling

You can tell we have had a couple warm days; everyone has a smile on their face and a little red in their cheeks. Saturday Linda and I went into Spokane and did a bit of shopping followed by a long walk with the Hashers. The Hash held its annual pre Bloomsday event at the traditional watering hole Fast Eddies. They call it the Bloomin Hash and it is usually a short run/walk around the downtown area. It's very low key and they try not to get everyone worked over before the big Bloomsday run. We didn't stay the entire time and came home where we ate dinner and called it a day.

We got up late, about 7:00 AM, and spent the morning putting our bike gear together. With the big bike rack on the trailer stinger, we loaded the recumbent for me and Linda's race bike. It was a busy morning and we had to dig everything I use for biking out of storage. Our plan was to load up, drive out to within 3.5 miles of the state line, and let Linda out where she would start her run. I would drive to the state line and unload the bikes and she would arrive and everything would be ready to do a 22 mile ride.

This all sounds good, but being the first ride of the season, I forgot a few things that I noticed after I had parked, unloaded, and set up the bikes. Let’s see, I forgot little things like water bottles, shoes, etc. I could deal with everything, but the shoes were the hardest. You are thinking “just ride in your tennis shoes.” I was wearing maroon Crocks. I could not leave the stuff to drive home and get the cleated shoes. I didn’t have time to load up and drive back either. So when Linda showed up I road in maroon Crocks.

The ride was wonderful in spite of the shoe debacle. I could only push on my peddles, which made the hills a bit hard and slow. I think my biggest problem was riding along and coming upon a group of riders and having ride by in big maroon Crocks. As a recumbent rider your feet stick out in front of you and all I could see were these two puffy purple, ok maroon, feet sticking out there. I was a bit embarrassed to say the least. The ride went smooth and I was real tired when we got home.