This weekend was another busy summer weekend.  It has been difficult to keep the bike rides going as consistently as we did during the fall and winter.  Pete and I decided to do a quick ride over to his mother and father’s new place Sunday, July 18, 2004, evening, which is just a few miles west of where I live.  Pete’s daughter Laura graduated from high school this spring and Pete and Elaine had a party for Laura this past Saturday afternoon.  Mostly family of both Elaine and Pete attended the party.  Pete’s cousin Mark stayed over an extra day with his parents to visit a bit longer, and Mark joined us for the bike ride Sunday evening.  Pete declared this an official bike club ride, which in turn now makes Mark a PCT Bicycle Club member.  Mark is our first out of town member.  He is originally from Beaver Creek Ohio and currently still lives somewhere in Ohio.

Mark used Pete’s son Paul’s bicycle for the ride.  I didn’t think there were any bikes left in Pete’s garage that he hadn’t destroyed before he got his new bike.  Must be that Paul’s bike somehow survived the period of time when Pete was using and breaking any bike he could get his hands on for our weekly rides.  Apparently Mark rides his bike quite regularly in his home area for recreation, so Mark is a welcome new member to the club.

When we got to Pete’s parents house Pete rode his bike around to the back right up to the sliding patio door.  Mark and I just waited in front of the house.  Pete opened the front door and let us in, so they must have let him in through the back door.  Pete’s Aunt Lou and Uncle Lenny were visiting at the time so we went in and visited for just a few minutes.  In addition to giving Mark three or four PCT Bicycle Club stickers I also gave Uncle Lenny one.  After Pete showed off his pink horn and yellow and orange bell on his bike the three of us got back on our bikes headed back to our houses.  There wasn’t any food involved in this ride, but being such a short ride we really didn’t have time to stop to get anything to eat.  I had already eaten dinner and Pete was planning to go out to dinner with Elaine so it just didn’t work out on this ride.

Since the bike Mark was riding didn’t have any kind of fender in the back I noticed that he was getting a fair amount of water and dirt on his back.  There were quite a few puddles of freestanding water in the streets and bike paths from rain earlier in the day.  I’m not sure but it almost seemed that Pete was looking for puddles to ride through on the way home.  In addition to the bike club stickers Mark will also have a stripe down the middle of his back as a remembrance of this ride. 

You may have noticed the new section on the home page for “Pet of the Month”.  This section has quickly turned into a very popular feature.  If you would like to nominate your favorite pet for this title feel free to send me an email with a picture along with the name of your pet and a self addressed stamped envelope to me.     

Thanks for checking in.  The PCT Bicycle Club 2005 Calendars are still progressing well.  We are now trying to get a count on how many calendars to produce, so please let us know if you are planning to order and the quantity.

David Lindquist