Recreational Cyclist

In the past week I've ridden every day! And always as a recreational cyclist!

Tuesday- Rode Quarry Ridge at lunch with a coworker. We challenged each other but I was proud to have no dabs in 4 laps!

Wednesday- Went for my urban lunch ride which is a 17-18 mile ride that shows off the scenic side of Madison. Of course once downtown I had a car turn into me. I put my hand on the side of her car to avoid getting hit and once I was stablized I went ahead and slapped the hood of her Scion (which was the first point which she actually saw me.) Scared her. She kept her distance the rest of the way down the street so hopefully she learned something. Rest of the ride was nice and relaxing. Jess and I also rode the 13 mile round trip to volleyball that evening!


Thursday- Participated in a weekly cycling ritual called the Gun Show. For the third week in a row I hung in there and even got one third place which I didn't think would happen this season. Cool!


Friday- Our annual brat ride, where our company president takes us all out via bike and we ride to Brat Fest for some sausages. He bought us brats, sodas and then later beers. Two hour lunch and 12 or so miles on the fixie make a good time, but a rough afternoon.

Some of my favorite co-workers:
And one of their favorite co-workers:
And just to prove we rode bikes down there:

Saturday- Got up super early and rode to the East Y, played basketball and rode back. Got 2 hours of basketball and 25 miles of riding in before 9am.

Sunday- Bike the Drive! They close down Lakeshore Drive in Chicago and only cyclists can roll it. 30 miles total (15 miles each way) loaded with awesome rest stops. Robbie Ventura was the grand marshall (I see him once a year.)

Had to ride at sun-up as we had to work by 8am (Navy Pier in the background):

Jess riding north back towards downtown:

Me doing something similar:

Monday- Brat Ride II, to meet with some friends. Jess and I took the longer scenic route and ended up with 20 miles. Good times with good friends...

As you can see, I lived a dream week for a recreational cyclist. This is the tale of two posts though, so lets fill the non-cycling stuff in!

Tuesday- After work we went to the dog park...yep, that's it!

Wednesday- We won 2 of 3 in volleyball...par for the course!

Thursday- I went to the dog park Thursday night. It was super windy so Popeye could hear my voice but had no idea where it was coming from...which was funny since he would start sprinting the opposite direction that I wanted him to run. Oh well.

Friday- After trying to stay awake all afternoon after brat fest we went to What Happens in Vegas after work. I liked it and it was good to see that Cameron Diaz was back as a viable option. Ashton was Ashton. Went to Noodles after that and then back home to chill.

Saturday- After getting back from basketball we cleaned up and headed towards Chicago. That drive gets shorter each time (despite the traffic) and less than 2 hours after we left we were at Dave & Busters. A top notch cheesesteak later we played lots of games, even scored me a flaming finger jackpot. Then headed downtown, checked in and then spent the next 8 miles of our life afoot. Went to Navy Pier (on a holiday Saturday, packed) and then just downtown in general. Finally went to Portillos for an Italian Beef sandwich and a chocolate cake milk shake (yes I did eat the cake at the bottom):
The rest of the walk was trudgery although we did see the world's largest mirroed shiny bean and the bean saw us:

We were so beat that I think we were in bed by 8.

Sunday- The 4:40am wake up call was bad enough but we got going, signed up, checked in and were riding by the 5:30 start. Beautiful weather and a wonderful event. Promoted Schwinn the rest of the morning but not without a latte and coffee from Dunkin Donuts...it's weird too, I had no idea I had a halo although I would've guessed said halo would look like this:

The day was great! After we hit the Fudd and went to a Performance shop. Trudged home with traffic and construction, chilled for an hour and then it was out with the in-laws which was a great time as well. I called my Mom and wished her a Happy Birthday as well! Three big weekends in a row for her (Mother's Day, Retirement, Birthday.)

Monday- Woke up with no schedule or plans. Got a call at 8 if we wanted to do breakfast at 8:30. Yes. Hit the grocery store on the way home and got a call to meet at the dog park. About to leave for the dog park and got a call for brat fest. Got back from the park and headed to brat fest. Hung out there and had a good time. Got home, watched the Brewers win, mowed the lawn, made some supper, caught up on Tivo and now I am typing this. What a good weekend!