GPOYW - Fall Bike Tour Edition!
So my parents are pretty much the cutest ever, right?….I mean all my ongoing childhood angst and psychological issues with them, aside.
So this is us, just before the start of the bike race (I KNOW IT’S A TOUR NOT A RACE ALL YOU COMMUNISTS IN NORTHERN MINNESOTA, STOP REMINDING ME) last weekend.
Also, this is the first picture of Duck - ie, Ugly Ducking (don’t tell her that’s the origin of her name). Though really, Frankenstein would be a more apt moniker given the vast range of components used to rebuild her. Despite Zonita’s incredible offer, the Sunrise Cyclery guys managed to pull this baby together for an absolute song and even gave me the rack off their car when she wouldn’t fit into my trunk. Who lends a virtual stranger their bike rack for the weekend? People like Zonita and Jeff the bike guy, apparently.
The tour ran this idyllic, silent course around unlogged forests, the impossible green of soybean fields and wind-worn barns collapsing in to themselves. By golden acres of overdue corn and the proud white planks of freshly painted farm houses.
It was such a peaceful, satisfying ride…even though my dad did 50 miles in only slightly longer than my mom and I did 25. One of these days, I’ll match his fitness level….even if he’s an octogenarian at the time.
I’m in love with Duck and eager to get her back from the shop, where she is having a little gear transplant performed this week.
And it’s finally occurring to me that maybe somebody out there is enjoying my beautiful Trek even more than I did. Maybe it’s getting them to a job they really need or treatment or home to their kids at night. And that’s a good enough reason to let her go and move on.
