Fourth of July

I'm going to count Thursday as part of the weekend, since the Fourth of July weekend spreads onto the following Monday. On Thursday Cale and I went to the Beatdown ride. It was my first time, but I knew I was in for it. It has a reputation of being one of the fastest group rides around (though the Gun Show takes top honor, as I hear it). The average speed of the ride was 24mph, including stops and such. It was about 40 miles long, and I hung on until the last few miles, when the speed ramped up. Luckily, my tire was going flat right about then. Why luckily, you ask? Well, clearly that's why I couldn't keep up. Thank goodness for excuses, am I right? Here's a photo of most of the pack, starting out.



On Friday night we met Cale's parents and his youngest brother up in Port Washington for a fish fry. We got there a little early and walked around the port. When you only get a few months of great weather, you've got to savor each perfect evening.



On Saturday morning we met Holly and some friends for a ride at Kettles.



I was cool for about half of it, then I was dragging. After the Beatdown, and after the stress of racing the weekend before at the WORS race, I just wanted to go slow. The trails were great, though, and the new stuff is settling in nicely. There was a new feature, as well. Why they decided to make an effigy mound, I don't know, but I support the decision.



We went to Summerfest in the evening, because Cale had free tickets. Oh, what a circus. We listened to Modest Mouse for a while, then wandered around and did some more people watching. Gettin' rowdy.



To recover, we did lunch the next day at Cale's parents' house on Sunday, complete with repose in the grass.





Sunday evening was the 4th, and Russell's Crappy Bike Ride, of course. We get out the weirdest/crappiest bikes we can, meet at Russell's, bike over to the fairgrounds to watch the fireworks from the stands, then go to get ice cream at Gille's. This year there were over 70 people when we rolled out, including one foreign exchange student, which was a first. A storm was brewing, but we made it to the fairgrounds without incident. The fireworks took what seemed like forever to start, but from the top of the bleachers, you can see dozens of fireworks displays, all the way from Port Washington to New Berlin. Where to start on photos from this?

I went to thrift stores on Friday after work to find something suitably patriotic to wear and decorate my bike with. Anything more American than cutoff jean short overalls? I thought not.



I picked up a wreath for my bike, too. We had some blue Bike Bins to match, too.