Lion's Club Charity Ride

Marni and I went out on a 46 mile supported ride for the Lion's club. Donations and the ride stipend go to children with physical disabilities or type 1 diabetes, for summer camp and the like. The Lion's club puts on several of these each year and they tend to be the best supported and controlled rides we participate in. They have a lot of experience at doing them and because they have a lot of members who are into the power structure of the towns, they get great support from the C of C, the police and the various civic and business organizations in the area. They are sponsored to the hilt.

Today's ride started at 8 AM and it was about 42 degrees out. Nice and warm for you Yankees and Bo honks but really a shock to our southern acclimated systems. Add to it our wind chill and it really was cold for us. My hands about froze to the handle bars for the first 8 miles. The police presence was fantastic. There must have been 50 of them out to support the ride including two or three who were biking along with us in police bike patrol uniform. More on that later.

There were about 800 riders in all. This is the size ride Marni and I like because it is big enough to get good support and protection and small enough that you don't get caught up in a mob scene at every corner and stoplight. The route was in a part of town that neither of us had ever ridden so we had a great opportunity to sight see as well as enjoy the exercise and the feeling of freedom that comes from long distance riding.

We found another couple who rode at the speed that we felt comfortable at and did about 30 miles of the ride with them, sharing conversation, warning each other about upcoming obstacles and generally just hanging out. Lost them at a rest stop when we stopped for a gear check and a banana and they went on ahead. We'll never know their names but "Thanks for sharing the ride."

The best part from my perspective came near the end of the ride. I know I complain often enough that there's never a cop around when you need one. This time there was. The police did a fabulous job at all the busy intersections making sure that the bikes got through safely. At one major intersection, a cop car blocked off the main road at a stoplight so that a pack of us could get through the intersection from a side road. One car on our road tried to scoot through with us and I ended up grabbing both brakes and throwing my butt off the back of the bike to keep from getting side swiped. This is know as a panic stop and thank God I learned how to do it well. I screamed a blue streak to keep the bikes behind me from running into me or the car. The cop in the patrol car heard and saw what happened. He stayed put in the middle of the intersection until we were all safely across. Then he hauled ass after the offending car. We passed the bad guy about 2 miles down the road with the cop leaning on his door, writing him a ticket. Thanks, Officer!!

We finished the 46 miles in under 3 hours with minimal stops and almost no rest periods. We even plan to go out tomorrow for our normal 25 mile Sunday coffee ride. Not bad for a pair of old grey bikers.