Independence Day

So, here I am trying to write a race report when I should be getting ready for the next race! It always seems to turn out that way....

4th of July was a nice day, sunny and pleasant. I went for a ride in the afternoon, doing about 40 road miles. Before being injured, I used to try to do 50 miles on summer holidays, if there was time and I wasn't doing something else like going to Kettle for the day, I would ride up to Abbott labs and turn around. But this is the longest road ride I have done all year. The bad thing about racing every weekend is that I seldom get to do the longer rides I might be able to do if I were at home. And that will be the topic of a whole 'nother post. The ride definitely aggravated some things, but I am glad I did it.

On the way home from the ride, I stopped at a party on top of the lakefront parking garage at Northwestern. These friends stake out a spot there with pop up tents and food and throw a party which leads up to having an excellent spot to watch the fireworks. During the day you can watch the sailboats and then the fireworks at night. I meant to stop for just a bit but some people I hadn't seen in ages showed up - some of my old motorcycle friends - and persuaded me to stay for a while and have some food, etc. It was fun, and I really enjoyed seeing my friend's triplets (gulp)!! Yes, three little boys!!! They are 2 and a half, and actually are really cute and were no problem as long as we made sure they didn't fall over the side of the 2 story parking garage! I'm sure they have their difficult moments but at the party they were being great little fun guys. Their parents brought a bubble machine to keep them occupied - we all had fun with it. Kids all over the lot were enjoying chasing the bubbles that blew their way! The bubbles were gigantic and some of them had several small bubbles inside the big ones, which was pretty cool.

I eventually got really tired of sitting around in wet bike clothes and headed home to get a quick shower before I met some other friends to go to the fireworks. I was behind schedule on meeting them so instead of going to Kristin's I met them at the beach. Rode the old purple mtn bike, which is now a town bike with riser bars. If we had a "crappy bike ride" like Russell's here, I guess that's what I'd ride, even though it's not crappy. Some might say all that 90's purple is tacky, but it's not crappy!

We ended up lying on the cement of a parking lot., they said the beach was too crowded. It was pretty uncomfortable after the long ride earlier, I was wishing for a chair like all the old folks seemed to have! We got good spots, but there was a long delay in getting the fireworks going so of course lots of people squeezed in around us. People were constantly stepping over us until things got started. The lakefront fireworks were great and went for a long time. They always do an excellent job. Of course after the fireworks are over people swarm all over the park to get back to their cars, which are usually parked pretty far away. There are always lots of people setting off their own fireworks as we are walking away from the lake, so you are always at risk of walking too near to something that's about to explode! Stuff was exploding all around us.

Eau Claire next...