Planting, poker and pacelines

Great weekend to be OUTSIDE! Yup, finally no rain, a little wind but hey, it is South Dakota after all.

We got our flower bed all planted. Flower pots planted, tomato plants in their containers along with the marigolds to keep the bugs away from the little sweet 100s! Lawn mowed and fertilized. Bike chains and rear cogs all cleaned and lubed. Now there must have been some sort of payoff for doing all this work right? You guessed it, a bike ride. It is was not just an ordinary bike ride it was the annual Harlan's Anniversary ride / Harlan's Poker Ride / Harlan's customer appreciation ride, but this year we rode in memory of Cal's daughter who was killed in a car accident four months ago. I didn't know her but I am sure she was a great person given how nice her dad and uncle are.

Not sure how many attended the ride but there were quite a few. We opted for the bike trail ride instead of the Harrisburg ride. I was nervous about this as we rode counter clockwise around the trail. Now, to some of you it is not a big deal. To the ones that are novice and dislike hills it is kind of a big deal as you have to climb out of the falls area up a hill and up the switch backs by the the State Penitentiary. I am proud to say I did it without stopping! I think the part leading up to the bridge that goes over the spillway is hardest part so it makes the switch backs a little hard but not so bad. Kris had a hard time with them but she made it about halfway up which is excellent!
We regrouped at the bridge / dam area out by north Minnesota and met a couple of Lanehogs! Jefferson and his son Matt were along for Harlan's ride also and had never ridden the trail before so the tagged along with our group well, in the middle of our group. Kris and I rode sweep...hahaha! We got up by the zoo and of course the buffalo were standing under a tree and the BIG kitties were laying in the grass. We also saw a duck with her ducklings all in a perfect paceline swimming in the diversion ditch. I love that stuff! We made it back and with that Kris made another one of her goals-----ALREADY-----that was to make it around the bike trail loop! She did a great job yesterday! Not sure what she is going to do the rest of the summer with her goals already met! Just kidding. I know she wants to work on pace and getting faster which will come with more time in the saddle. At the end of the ride, I didn't have a good poker hand at all, didn't win a door prize, had good burgers, lemon aide and fun with friends...good weekend!