What a great weekend to ride!!!

7:30 Saturday morning, it was foggy and maybe even a little misty, but Lisa and Kate E showed up for our first "unoffical" JDRF ride of the season. We were very happy to be riding on the Monon as the visability was sketchy at best. So we started from the parking lot at the Jordan YMCA and headed north. We got lots of practice negotiating intersections, plus runners and walkers blocking the entire path and forcing us to work on our slow speed handling skills! The temperature actually was quite nice and we had a very pleasant ride all the way to the end of the trail at 161rst street in Westfield, where it terminates into a gravel bed that we promptly dubbed "The Alex Highway" in honor of one of the routes that we did last year when Coach Alex was trying to stretch us in preparation for our DV ride :) We made it back to the Jordan just ahead of the rain, thunder and lightening at about 9:15. The next day was another YMCA start point, as we met at the Anthenaum YMCA at 1pm for a spin class and Kate W decided that a road ride would better serve us as the weather was spectacular! So with sunny skies and temperatures at least in the high 70's we once again tackled the Monon, negotiating the Cultural trail to get to the southern most point. Today's group consisted of Kate W, Scott, Gary, Mark and Myself. Mark and Gary had already ridden from the northside to the spin class, so we just pointed them back the way they came. We had a great time catching up on lost time and again negotiating the various rolling road blocks that are typical of the Monon. We stopped and grabbed a bite to eat at a DQ that was just off the trail in Fishers (at least that is where I think we were) then said good bye to Mark and Gary. Scott, Kate and I pointed our bikes back the way we came and faced the Heinous headwind that Mark and Gary had told us about on our way north. We did a modified echelon to make a little better time as Kate and Scott had places to be and I had to work a fundraiser at Conseco last night.

Kate and I also discussed team nicknames for this year with 2 great names already

Scott "The Power House" Warpool

Gary "The Machine Tool" Martindale - I am sure other great names are to come through out the season!

Scott and Kate peeled off shortly before 16th street and I finished the ride just in time to change my cloths and head to Conseco with my lovely wife Melissa (who immediately scolded me for not wearing sun screen) WEAR SUNSCREEN EVERYONE :) When we got to Conseco, Nathan, Andy and his friend Cheryl were already there and chomping at the bit to start raising funds. We had a good night working with Paul in Pacer Combo, raised some more money for JDRF and enjoyed each other's company. I really enjoyed spending some quality time with my team mates and am looking forward to many more enjoyable rides like this through out the Season!

See you on the road soon!

Michael