Wed. 5/14/08

We started with 9 riders from Eric's (Steve, Marty, Todd, Tom, Al, Paul, Kristi, Jim, and myself). We headed for Douglas via the Douglas Trail. As we pedaled along we picked one guy on the trail (didn't catch his name). When we got to Douglas we picked up Big Jim P. and a friend of Tom's named James (now we had three Jims). Jeff S. also somehow managed to find us at Douglas, as well. So now the group had swelled to 13 riders as we headed for the Genoa hill. Jim and I were out front when we received the first of three "Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Awards" (FFFoFA) from one of the local folks. We politely waved back (several times). The pace stayed pretty hard as we headed uphill. Kristi and the un-named guy turned and went on to finish their own workouts, while the rest of us headed toward Mantorville. Jeff and Todd decided we weren't going fast enough, so the pace picked up. We rolled into Mantorville with Steve winning the town sprint sign (with a smart lead-out by Marty, not really). We stormed up the hill out of Mantorville and headed to Byron past the golf course. Here we encountered our second FFFoFA from an adouring fan. Now it was Big Jim's turn to make everyone suffer as we motored along at 25+ mph. After a regroup and some more civilized riding pace miles. Tom took a long sprint to get the Byron sign, with Jeff and group in hot pursuit. We headed north abit and then back east through Byron. And then turned north again until we got back to Valleyhigh Road. We followed that all the way back to town. Jim P. headed north as we got back to cty 3 and he headed for home. The rest of us made our way back to town and the group followed the Douglas Trail north back to Eric's. I continued into town past Silver Lake (where I received my own personal FFFoFA). Then past RCC and finally home.

Here is the route:



Great ride everyone and thanks Jim for hurting my legs...