Summer Vacation

Riding the 75-mile four notches loop around White Mountain National Park in New Hampshire with Lynn and Adam, I started a weekend of summer fun. I've missed mountains--New England has charm, but none of the rugged geographic romance of the Northwest. We rode at a steady but leisurely pace. Each long climb was rewarded with a spectacular descent. The last ten miles we rode a deserted bike path through the woods: Adam aptly described the trill as "like mountain biking at 30 miles per hour!" Naturally, we recovered with banana splits and Belgian Beer.

Saturday's weather called for a 15-mile ride through hilly Scituate to Steph's parent's pool. I ate a lot of cheese sandwiches and watermelon. Back at home we cooked dinner with friends and drank Kalimotxo (red wine and coke--try it, it's good). Then we dressed up, filled bike bottles with Rusty Anchors (red wine and coke, plus whiskey), and went to a dance party. The party was OK; eating pizza on our porch until 3am was better.

I still got to Brian C's by 8am to go to Worcester for the Major Taylor Hill climb. Major Taylor, the first black world champion [track] cyclist over a century ago, lived there. There's an annual hill climb in his honor on George St. where he trained. It's steep: short and painful. What fun! Providence made a good showing, and we were the largest cointingent on fixed gears (hey, that's what the Major rode). Adam and Brian and Nathan did it damn fast. I was slow, but still won a big goofy gold medal for my category.

I've spent most of my summer working, training, and pining away. Now playing a little more.

p.s. Come to our yard sale party on Saturday. Cupcakes. Hulahoops. Costumes.