Saturday March 25, 2006 Pete and Bob joined me for a breakfast ride.  We went to our favorite breakfast place, Greek Island.  We joked about ordering hard boiled eggs, but based our experience the last time Bob tried to order hard boiled eggs we decided to leave well enough alone.

Pete got the special and Bob ordered a bagel which sounded good to me so I ordered a bagel as well for a change.  After finishing our meals which also included the traditional diet Cokes we were ready to start riding again.

The ride to Greek Island is quite short, and unless we are in a hurry to get back home we usually do the majority of the ride after breakfast.  None of us had to be home right away so we all agreed to ride further south.

It was still a cool day with the temperature hovering right around freezing.  We were all dressed plenty warm.  Even though we are all ready for the warmer weather we are all experienced enough to dress correctly based on the particular day.

I had recently bought a kayak and I needed a PFD, (personal flotation device), or life jacket.  I saw one at Dicks Sporting Goods the other day, but I didn't buy it when I was there.  We decided to ride to Dick's and if they still had the same PFD on sale I would buy it this time.

The ride today was also a bit windy which made it feel cooler than expected.  Clouds were starting to form and it even looked like it might rain.  We just kept on pedaling, we don't let the threat of a little rain stop us.  When we got to Dick's we all went inside and I found the same PFD still on sale so I picked out my size and headed to the register to make the purchase.  I paid with a credit card and when the girl waiting on me started to put the PFD into a bag I said that won't be necessary I will just wear it.  She gave me a strange look, which I am becoming accustom.  I put the PFD on over top of my jacket and zipped it up and fastened the buckles.  I asked one of the guys to take a picture using my camera phone of me wearing my new PFD outside the store just before I got back on my bike.  I will post the pictures at the bottom of this story.  It was starting to snow when we walked outside and if you look closely you can see snow flakes in the pictures. 

Pete claimed I set a new record on this ride, the first club member to wear a life jacket on a bike ride.  Pete also pointed out the beauty of this type record is it can never be broken. 

On the way home we stopped at our local bike shop, Rochester Bike Shop, RBS.  One of the straps on the toe clips on the pedals of Pete's bike recently broke and Pete wanted to pick up a new pair.  In addition to Pete's feet being rather large for his size, they are also quite wide.  His wide feet put extra stress on the straps of the toe clips and finally one broke.  RBS is a good place and they are very helpful.  They had just what Pete needed and he purchased a pair.  I waited outside while Pete and Bob went inside the bike shop.  I have to admit I was a little embarrassed to walk into the bike shop wearing my PFD.

After the bike store stop we rode pretty much straight home along one of our regular routes.

Following are the statistics from this ride, 16.2 miles total, 21.5 max mph, 1 hour and 34 min time on bikes and 10.2 average mph.
David Lindquist