Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Finale?



Starting at the end of April or beginning of May, Tuesdays mean Beechwood. Tonight may have been the last Tuesday night ride and social gathering. I've looked forward to every Tuesday this season. I missed a total of four this year. Missing those few nights made the week seem quite long. Do not know what the coming weeks will bring... especially with going back to Standard Time and probably not seeing much of the sun during the week.

Since this was going to most likely be the last Tuesday night ride, I thought, hey, why not make it a bit more painful than the previous weeks and pulled out the XXIX SS. It felt great to be back on it. Still don't like the fact that I can't get all the hills without a dismount, but I know what needs to be done to accomplish that.

It was a smaller crowd than usual tonight, but that isn't surprising. The last Tuesday in October in Wisconsin after then end of the MTB season will do that. Throw in earlier sunsets and a temperature of 44 degrees at the start and no one really wonders why it's the die-hards that are the only shows. MC, JoJo, Jaybird, JB, DoubleB, Merklein, Melcher, Young Sam, Dean and I all got our laps in. There was some night riding involved, but not by me. I had a great lap (for me anyway) and went back out do hit a couple of more sections that are just plain fun. No spills, clean ride, no breaks. Couldn't ask for more than that. A good way to end.

Dean cranked up the bonfire. Josh lit the cooking coals. We stayed warm. We ate grilled meat. We drank beer. We laughed.


It was 33 degrees when Ben and I hopped into the car to head home.

Whenever this ritual truly ends for the season, I will indeed miss it.

Happy Tuesday.

3 comments:

CTB said...

That minimalist looking blue Raleigh is some serious eye candy. Nice ride!

Big Steve said...

It's getting there. Have a feel more wanted changes for it and it will be complete. Love the ride of the fully rigid steel. Not crazy about the heavy wheels.

CTB said...

Stan's ZTR's with DT Swiss spokes/nipples and King hubs will solve that little problem.