Lucky Saturday

I switched things up this weekend.  Instead of our usual ride to Robinson Preserve, I decided that a little tootsie pampering was more important.

Well…and I had a long ride planned for Saturday morning!

My friend Caroline and I were planning on going for a long ride together since she’s training for her very first 50 miler in two weeks!  When Caroline discovered there was a Trek Women Breast Cancer Awareness Ride going on at her favorite bike shop (Trek St. Pete) we decided that’s what we’d do – 25 miles for a good cause?  Sign us up!

On Friday evening, Ryan decided he’d join us for the ride – awesome!  We set out for St. Pete after an early breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  That’s when I ran across these:

Gross.  Cinnamon Brooms are one of the only vom-inducing things in my life.  Seriously, whenever I’m near them I get sick to my stomach.

I think it all goes back to a fateful night in college which involved the card game Asshole (please tell me someone else knows about this game…), bottles of Molson Golden and shots of Aftershock. <—What was I thinking?

Maybe these godforsaken brooms are available at Cracker Barrel year round, maybe not.  All I know is that I ran across them on my way out & I couldn’t get away from them fast enough.   

The drive to St. Pete was super easy but I was let down when I realized the rumors of a toll increase were true.  Now each trip across the bridge is $1.25…so instead of digging up a dollar bill, I have to find CHANGE now too.  Blerg.

Anyhow, we got to the bike store, got our goody bags & got ready for the ride. 

We hit the road shortly after 10:00am with a plan to ride 25 miles.

Caroline has clearly mastered the art of self-portraits with scenery.  Seriously, she never misses a shot!

I was relieved when they told us it would be a no-drop ride.  We toured through several neighborhoods in the St. Pete area and eventually made our way out to the pier. 

It was a really nice ride.  There were a few spots where my heart rate got pretty high, but that was usually where there was lots of chaos traffic and people.  It’s pretty stressful to try to get a group of 20 riders through an intersection with a 4-way stop and backed up traffic!  As soon as we’d get out of the congested areas my HR would drop back down – it’s amazing how much anxiety affects me!  

Otherwise, it was a nice easy ride and we averaged about 10.5mph.  One gal rode the whole thing on a beach cruiser – no small feat when everyone else is on skinny tire bikes with gears!

Turned out some people wanted to be back at the store by noon…and they weren’t happy about the slower pace…so we had to cut the ride down to just under 20 miles to get back in time. 

I wasn’t too upset about the shorter distance – it was still the longest I’ve ridden in months by about 8 miles.  Miles are miles, remember?

Thanks to Caroline, I actually have some pictures of me & Ryan! (Because I’m a bad blogger & didn’t take any once we started riding.)

When we all got back to the shop, it was time to raffle off all the goodies we bought tickets for.  Somehow Caroline’s luck rubbed off on me when we both won a pair of thermal riding gloves.  

These gloves will come in super handy this winter since Ryan and I are riding a lot more and are planning our very first cross-Florida tour. (More to come on that soon!)

I also won a seat bag, which I gave away because I already have about 32095 of them. 

The big winner got an absolutely awesome messenger bag/pannier.  Totally jealous.

After all of the festivities Caroline, Ryan and I went to the famous Harvey’s for lunch. Um, it lived up to the hype!  I’ll definitely eat there again when I’m in the St. Pete area. 

All in all, it was a great day:  a good friend, a good cause & a good ride.  Couldn’t really ask for more!

Thanks to Caroline for ALL of the pictures in this post!  …except for the one of my foot…and the cinnamon brooms…

WHAT ABOUT YOU:  What was the highlight of your weekend?