bike ms from my perspective day one

I borrowed a van for the Bike Tour weekend - a regular Scooby Doo van. I wish I had a picture of it - will take one and post it some time.

Saturday morning before light I drove around in the scooby van posting last minute signs on the now-closed road. I had to use HEAVY sand bags to keep them from blowing away, hence the reason for the van and not posting them on foot. Cyclists started showing up on site around 6am and we got the music going. Here's a photo of our chapter president, Rich Israel, and I at the start line. The start line staggering went pretty well - though I know some cyclists were frustrated with the delay. We have to do what we have to do for the cities and safety. There were a lot of teams of all sizes, every one with smiles on their faces! Rich was really good about recognizing top fundraisers and everyone for their fundraising efforts, acknowledging how tough it was this year.

After all the cyclists left and I cleaned up the site (I'm the site sweeper), I got in the scooby van and started down the coast. I called the lunch stop to see if they needed anything and found out they needed ice. Like 250lbs of ice. So I stopped at a gas station and hauled bag after bag of ice from their freezer to the scooby van. By myself. And then I delivered it. Thank goodness I had the van.

Many cyclists had already arrived at the overnight festival when I arrived. Everyone seemed happy but tired (after riding 50 or 100 miles!). We had no interest in the team jersey fashion show, and very little attention to the awards ceremony. I think we'll nix the awards ceremony for next year. There was a major hiccup with the caterer... but all in all the festival seemed great. Saturday night I got home about 9:30/45 (it's a 50 minute drive), had an ice cream bar and went to bed, preparing for 3:30am arrival time at the finish line site next morning.

More about day two of bike to come. I have my new hiking boots on today - trying to break them in. I returned the ones I had because they rubbed my toenail black. There was a seam on the upper center of the toe... I know you have to put seams somewhere, but, really, there? Grand Canyon here we come!