Saturday we drove over into Miami's western suburbs to ride with the West Side Sunset Bandits. We know many of the team through our mutual club, the Everglades Bicycle Club (EBC). They do rides with EBC and with other Miami area cycling teams. They like to do road trips to cycling events, too. There is a nice mix of men and women in the group. They're strong, safe riders, and they are fun. Saturday's ride was from Miccosukee Golf Course to Black Point Marina and back with a loop around the golf course. A pleasant brisk 50-mile pedal, with just enough wind to give us a good workout. A winner.
Sunday we drove south to Homestead for the Everglades Bicycle Club spring charity ride, the Snowbird. The weatherman was calling for rain, but that didn't keep a huge group of riders from setting out for a morning on the rural roads of Miami-Dade's agricultural district. We set out on the 62 mile route, pedaling with a group of riders from several teams including the Bandits and Cycling Family Broward. We left part of the group at the first rest stop; they were doing one of the shorter routes. The sky was threatening, the roads wet, but we were dodging any real rain. Pedal, pedal, pedal and we were halfway through our metric. Which was about where some deranged malcontent had strewn tacks on the road. Al rode through unscathed, but I wasn't as lucky. By the time we got back on the road, we were down to one tube left for the two of us, which meant we needed to cut our ride short and head back to the start. So it was a 45 mile day for us. We put the bikes on the car and walked over to ride headquarters for a light meal (tacos!) and some chatting with friends. The Snowbird is always a great ride. Even with wet roads and tacks, this year's ride was fun.
Then we were at home and back to the business of being amused by our little group of Spring Breakers. Like I said, we had a group down the hall from us. Late Sunday afternoon there was a knock on our door. Al opened the door to find a young man holding a large, but empty, blender jar. "There are nine of us, and we've run out of ice. The ice machine can't keep up with us. Can we get some from you?" asked the young man politely. We invited him in and filled the blender jar with ice. He thanked us profusely, returned down the hall to his condo, and announced his successful return with an exuberant cheer...which we could hear from inside our unit.
Ah, youth...
