On Saturday July 9, 2005 Pete and I did an early morning breakfast ride.  And later in the day I did a second ride with Bob right at lunch time.  I should have capped off this day with a ride somewhere for dinner just so I could say I rode my bike to all three meals.  I guess I will save this feat for another day. 

Breakfast Ride:
Pete needed to be home relatively early so we decided to do a quick ride to Greek Island for a Saturday morning breakfast.  We took our regular route through side streets and got to Greek Island just shortly after they opened.  There were only a couple other people already seated in the restaurant when we walked to a booth.  We each had the breakfast special with Diet Coke to drink.  Even though Pete doesn’t know what over easy means, that is how he ordered his eggs, I got mine scrambled.  Pete ordered the sausage and I got ham.  We each had hash browns with toast.  The breakfast was good as usual.  The service was very fast.  It seemed like our food arrived about two minutes after ordering. 

After eating our breakfast we basically just headed home.  It is nice doing these early morning rides, a lot less car traffic and it is easy to cross the roads with fewer cars out.  The ride home was pleasant without incident.   

Following are the statistics from this ride, 10.6 total miles, 23.0 max speed, 10.8 mph average speed and 59 minutes on bikes. 

Lunch Ride:
I had been home for about an hour and was just getting ready to do some work around the house when Bob showed up on his bike looking for a ride.  I actually thought about staying home and doing work instead of doing a second ride this day.  Luckily I composed myself and told Bob to hang on for a couple minutes while I changed before I went out with him for my second ride of the day. 

Bob and I started without any destination in mind.  We headed toward downtown Rochester and ended up on Rochester Road.  As we rode we started talking about where to stop for lunch.  We decided to go to Mahoneys which is a sports bar located on the west side of Rochester Road just north of M-59.  We weren’t quite ready for lunch, and with Mahoneys still being a few miles away, we would have to ride about another 20 minutes which would work out fine from a time standpoint.  We rode on the side walk south down Rochester Road all the way to the restaurant.  As usual we had to avoid the poor drivers pulling into and out of parking lots and side streets.  At least at this point we no longer trust anyone in a motorized vehicle and we are very cautious before proceeding across a street or driveway. 

Once we got to Mahoneys we locked our bikes together and headed inside for lunch.  The sign said seat yourself so we picked a round table with tall stools.  There weren’t many people there when we first arrived.  A few more people showed up as time went on, but it never did get very crowded.  They were showing a replay of the most recent stage of the Tour de France on some of the TVs.  My cable company does not offer the outdoor network that is showing replays of the Tour, which is too bad.  It was enjoyable to watch the bicyclists on TV.  There were two guys that were far out in front of everyone else.  One of these two was obviously going to win this stage.  It was going to come down to a sprint.  They traded positions quite a few times before they both started to sprint with about a quarter mile to go.  The guy from behind pulled even at the last second and he just barely lunged ahead for the win.  Overall Lance appears to be in control for his 7^th consecutive Tour de France win.  Unless he gets hurt or something unexpected happens it doesn’t look like anyone is going to be able to keep up with Lance, especially once the mountain stages get underway. 

Mahoneys had a burger special for lunch that was reasonably priced.  The burgers were good and the Diet Coke was good as well.  You still can’t beat the Hamlin Pub’s lunch time burger special which also includes your drink.  But, it was nice to try somewhere a little different and ride a little further. 

After lunch Bob and I got back on our bikes and started pedaling home.  We rode part way back on the sidewalk on Rochester Road, but we ended up cutting over west and rode a few side streets.  We were going to a firework party on Green Lake later in the day and Diane was making a desert to bring to the party.  She called me while we were riding home and asked if I would be passing any grocery stores on the way home.  I told her we would and asked what she needed.  She told me she needed two avocados.  Bob and I decided to ride passed the Food Emporium at the Village shopping center where we could stop and I could get the avocados.  When we got to the Food Emporium (fancy name for Farmer Jacks) I went straight to the fruits and vegetable section.  I don’t buy avocados very often so I wasn’t sure what they looked like.  I asked a guy stocking some other fruit table in the area where I could find the avocados, he pointed to the area where they were located.  I know avocados are green so I grabbed a couple of what I thought were avocados and started to walk toward the check out.  The guy I asked was obviously watching me because as I started to walk away he asked me ‘Are you sure you want mangos?’  He then told me the avocados were the smaller brown ones next to the mangos, I thanked him while I grabbed a couple of the correct fruit and headed toward the checkout again.   

With the avocados safely tucked away in my burrito basket Bob and I continued our ride home.  It is a relatively short ride from the Village Shopping center and we were home in about 15 minutes.  

Following are the statistics from this ride, 18.9 total miles, 20.0 max speed, 9.6 mph average speed and 1 hour and 57 minutes on bikes.
David Lindquist