Lion's Club Pride Ride

Today was a beautiful day to be on a bicycle so Nan and I went to Lakeville and rode in the Lion's Pride Ride put on by the Lakeville Lion's Club, complete with a pancake breakfast. We took the tandem and rode the 25 mile route. It passed the home I was raised in and the town I went to school in and where many of my relatives used to live. We got back to the start, put the tandem in the van and I got my other bike out and finished up with an almost 80 mile ride up and around New Carlisle and back for a total of 106 miles (the 25 miler was a little longer). It was a nice ride. That put me over 4000 miles for the year. I'm hoping to get a least 5000 in. That would double my usual annual mileage. We shall see.

Pumpkin Vine Ride

I have a wonderful organized ride to recommend for those of you who are bicyclers and live in this area. It's the Pumpkin Vine Ride, which is held every year at this time. We did it Saturday, 6/18. It's a very well organized ride that begins either in Shipshewana or Goshen and you have your choice of riding distances between 20 and 100 miles. It was well marked, the SAG stops were well supplied and the roads were quite good. My wife and I rode our tandem on the 30 mile ride through very scenic and predominately Amish countryside. We then returned to our starting spot in Shipshewana where I put the tandem away and jumped on my regular bike and added 60 more miles traveling through both Goshen and Middlebury.

In God's good mercy I continue to be free from any symptoms that put me in the hospital in Georgia on the last day of the coast to coast trip. I also met up with Bob from Goshen at the Pumpkinvine ride. He was a fellow rider on the coast to coast trip. Since returning from Georgia I've logged over 550 miles. Ironically, I have had more flat tires in the last week than I had throughout  the entire coast to coast trip. Go figure!

Next Saturday there is a ride in nearby Lakeville that is only a few years old. If I can manage my schedule, I plan to ride and see what it's like. It's called the Lion's Pride Ride and you can ride 10, 25,62 or 100 mile distances. Simply Google Lion's Pride Ride, Lakeville, IN and you can get registration information. Hope to see some of you there.

Creative Cycling

I've been thinking about updating my bike's security and finding utilitarian uses for it other than recreational riding. I found the internet to be immensely helpful in my research.

How about this for an innovative lock?

Do I have to join the force for this lock?

I could have used this for those fast down hills

Why didn't I think of this?

Is this the new biathlon bike?

The Lion's Club

Today I had a chance to tell of my Coast to Coast adventure to the Lion's Club in Elkhart over lunch. My friend Jack, the same one who drove me to Indy to the airport, arranged for the engagement since he is a member. I had about 25 minutes to share and showed the obligatory slides. My story was well received and it was fun reliving the recent memories. Jack said I may be getting a call from the Optimist's Club in town to speak to them as well. I will also be sharing my story this Sunday morning at church during our Adult Bible Fellowship hour.

I continue to add miles on a daily basis on my bike. Since returning home and taking a week off from riding I have ridden over 420 miles for a total of almost 3900 miles for the year. At this pace my informal goal is to get to 6000 miles by year end. That will almost double my best total for one year and put me well over 30,000 miles ridden since 2000.