New Years Day Ride

In Midland, MI there is an annual bike ride on January 1st.  The temperature and number of participants varies greatly from year to year.  I figured if the weather wasn't horrible I would give it a try.  The weather on Saturday morning was great; it was in the 40s and sunny.  That's unusual for Michigan in January, in fact it was so peculiar that it only lasted a few hours.  By the afternoon it was back down to 20 degrees and the wind was whipping around fiercely.  Needless to say, I rode with about 70 other people.  It was a record turn out for the ride.  Everyone was excited about the warm weather. 

When I was in middle and high school I played in a lot of travel basketball tournaments.  My team was always intimidated by the teams that would come in with matching warm-ups, shoes, bags and hair.  Our parents always told us that just because they had making equipment didn't mean that they would be any good at basketball...I'm not sure if any of us ever really believed them.  At the ride I felt like the team with all the matching equipment.  I have all the right gear, but I've never really used it.  In fact, this was only the third time I have ridden my bike outside.  Despite all that, the ride went well.  We rode a little over 19 miles and I met a lot of nice people.  They kept inviting me to ride with them in their other group rides...but I think the commute from Indy is a little much.

The best part of the ride was my fan section.  As I was riding along the trail I saw my sister and her family cheering on all the bikers.  I stopped to say hello to them and they said they had to get all their cheering in now since they wont be able to come to California to cheer me on.  When I got back on my bike and started riding away my two year old nephew ran after me yelling "Kekah!" ('Kekah' is two-year-old for Bekah.)  My mom also came to the ride to see me off and watch me finish.  My family is great!

Since it is normally so cold they have a bonfire set up half way through the ride.  Here is a picture of me standing awkwardly by the fire.