July 13th Bicycle Adventure Orientation

Friday the 13^th! The bicycle group is gathering at Fauntleroy UCC in Seattle. The church houses the local YMCA, which is where we'll be showering tomorrow after our shake down group ride. 15 of us had lunch at a local restaurant down the street from the church. Our waitress was very fun, but a bit overwhelmed by how many of us there were at lunch, and of course we asked for individual checks. She was operating on one leg due to a broken leg. Before we knew she had a broken leg we tried to convince her to join us on our ride. She thought about it for a moment, then she showed us the soft case on her left leg.

We made it back to the church just in time for our first orientation session. We went around the sanctuary introducing ourselves and saying the three things we would take on an island with us knowing that we would survive and had our bicycle and bible. The three things ranged from a cruise ship with a full crew to a kindle to a kayak to a coffeemaker/grinder with a solar panel. The group is diverse as the things we would take on the island. The bikes each rider will be riding are as unique as the riders, although there is a little giant posse, which I'm proud to be a member of. There are several folks riding treks, a couple cannondalee, a fuji, a jamis, a couple of motobacanes, and a mix of other bikes. Most of the bikes are aluminum, but there are a few other carbon fiber bikes.

For the first week, I'm on chore group number 4, which is breakfast, laundry, and whatever else Allen, the group leader needs us to do. Good thing I'm a morning person and I like doing laundry. Laundry duty means doing everyone's laundry.

It's free time now, some folks are at the grocery store shopping, a handful of us are hanging out at the church chatting and working on bike stuff, two guys went for a bike ride, a novel thing to do for people about to ride 1,650 miles, and a group went into Seattle to explore the city. I did my exploring yesterday, which is why I'm here writing my blog.