When I got up at 4:30, the skies had cleared (I actually saw stars) and things looked promising. A quick check of the weather radar showed that the system had cleared the coast (albeit temporarily) and we were the hole in the doughnut as it were- clouds to the north, south and east but we were free and clear.
Off we went on our regular circuit- crossing the river to pick up some other members of the group and heading to our main gathering point. I was a bit surprised at the number who turned up given the weather and alternate rides scheduled for today.
We completed the main portion of the ride with a bit of a 10km blast out along the shore to Pallarenda and back and it felt good to have a bit of a "lung-buster". 38-40km/hr and getting up to 45km/hr in spots made for a good bit of a break.
On to coffee at Juliette's and we welcomed back the owner Gary who had been overseas for a few weeks- New York in particular where he participated in and completed the NYC Marathon. Dee and I did a bit of work (actually Dee did most of the work) before he came back to Australia and created a poster with pictures of Gary in various stages of the marathon, crossing the line and with his medal for completing the event. When I delivered the poster to the cafe on Thursday, some of his staff didn't even know that he had gone to NYC to take part in the marathon and were gobsmacked that their boss had completed a marathon.
Gary was effusive in his thanks and humbled that we would do something like this. But these are momentous occasions- often things from a "bucket list", and all too often we don't stop to celebrate or even appreciate the accomplishments of those around us.
That's what friends are for.......
Cheers- ride safe
BoaB
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