Sunday June 25, 2006 we did a nice simple ride to Hamlin Pub for lunch.  We hadn’t ridden for two weeks since the Tour de Cure on June 11.  Pete had been in Germany the previous week on business and I was recovering from a nasty cold, so there wasn’t any bike riding the past couple weeks.   

I did go out for a jog with Bob out at Bloomer the previous weekend which is a nice alternate way to get some exercise outside.  Bob drove his new car, which is actually a used car in very nice condition that he recently bought at a garage sale.  Our neighborhood had a subdivision wide garage sale and Bob happened to notice this white Ford Crown Vic, I think.  Apparently it was owned by a little old lady in Florida and she only drove it once a week to church.  It has very low mileage and is in really nice shape, almost perfect.  Anyhow, we parked in the lot behind the stores on main street and planned to walk over to Bloomer for our jog.  The farmers market was happening at the time and we walked right through and spent a few minutes checking out the stuff.  All the fresh vegetables looked good.  Bob and I ended up doing a nice jog through Bloomer.  

Back to the bike ride.  Bob was out running some errands so he couldn’t join us on this ride, but he did plan to meet us at the Pub for lunch.  Germany is the host country for the football (soccer) World Cup taking place in June and July this year.  Since Pete was in Germany with the World Cup in progress he really got into the spirit of the World Cup.  During the week I had forgotten that Pete was in Germany and I called his cell phone one evening after work to see if he wanted to do an evening bike ride.  The ringer on the phone sounded a little different, but it only rang twice so I didn’t think twice about the slightly abnormal ring.  Pete answered and it sounded like it always does, matter of fact the reception was better than normal.  I asked Pete if he was busy and if he wanted to do a ride.  Pete told me he was in Germany and at that very moment standing in a beer garden having a beverage.  I asked him how his trip was going and he told me he was having a great time.  With the World Cup going on Germany was just packed with people everywhere.  It sounded like one big party.  He told me he was getting home on Saturday so we could plan a ride for Sunday. 

England was scheduled to play Ecuador this Sunday at 11:00 am so Pete and I planned to arrive at the Hamlin Pub in time to watch this game with all the transplanted Brits.  Bob and I had lunch the previous day at the Pub and we caught the second half of the Germany game with all the Germans.  It was a weird feeling, but still interesting, being one of only a few Americans with all the Germans and English on these two days. 

When I met Pete for the ride he was decked out in a bunch of Germany World Cup stuff.  He was wearing a dew rag the color of the German flag with Deutschland written across the front.  He also had on a German World Cup jersey and a pair of sun glasses.  The sun glasses were the best part, each of the lenses had stripes of the colors of the German flag.  Pete was going to fit in well today with the Brits.  Pete told me, “When I was in the men's room taking a whiz, one of the English guys told me that 'you guys are doing very well’.  I had to admit that I was not a real German.” 

The ride to the pub was at a fast pace.  I think Pete was excited and wanted to make sure we got there before the game started.  It wasn’t a bad idea to get there a couple minutes early because the place was quite full the day before with all the Germans, so I figured there would maybe even be more English this day.  The Europeans really get into their soccer. 

The weather was perfect for a bike ride this day.  We had a really nice ride on our way to the Pub.  Pete told me a bunch of stories about his trip to Germany.  I find stories about trips to other countries interesting.  It sounds like Pete and his fellow American travelers had a good time on this trip. 

We got to the Pub before the game started and it was already fairly crowded.  We got a table and Bob showed up after a few minutes.  We all ordered lunch and ate as we watched the game.  While we were sitting at our table drinking our diet cokes the manager walked up like he normally does to chat for a few minutes.  He took one look at Pete’s new dew rag and said, ”That is the ugliest hat I have ever seen.”  Pete responded by telling him it wasn’t a hat it was a dew rag.  The manager then said, “I don’t care what you call it, it’s still ugly.”  This made us all laugh.   England ended up winning one nil if I remember correctly.  This was a lot of fun.  We planned to come back and watch as many World Cup games as we could at the Pub.  The Germany Argentina game was scheduled for this coming Friday June 30.  Pete and I both agreed to try and get Friday off as a vacation day and come back to the Pub to watch this game.  We figured this could possibly be the best game of the tournament. 

After the game was over Bob got back in his car and Pete and I suited up for our ride home.  It was nice and sunny when we came out of the Pub, just perfect for the ride home.  We still maintained a good pace for the ride home.  We ended up with a faster than normal average speed for the entire ride. 

Following are the statistics from this ride, 15.1 miles total, 27.0 max mph, 1 hour and 11 minutes time on bikes and 12.7 average mph.     
David Lindquist