Intro to Ride Nostalgia

Pro cycling is quickly losing its draw for me. There's only so many scandals I can take before I just give up on it. I thought the Puerto Plus developments had taken me to that point. The acid trip that is the Floyd hearing has taken me well past that point. I hear the Giro's on. So what. The Tour? I've been sick of the French for a while, boycotting the TdF just makes complete my avoidance of France. So, I'm drawn back to riding for the sake of riding. Before I delve into the rosy colored recollections that keep me going in such times, an introduction is in order. My wife, then my fiance, talked me into stepping into Gourmet to talk Ghrumpy into letting me work there - for free. Those of you who know my lovely wife will universally agree that I married way up. As the previous post noted, working at the shop led me to meet the people with whom I spend most of my free time. It also jump-started the money I have in the bicycle loop (more on The Loop) to follow. The geneology chart lists the core members of the cycling family. Many of my best rides happened with these guys. A few riding partners of mine haven't remained as closely tied to the shop as others, but are still the people I call on to ride. An incomplete list of riding buddies that were part of my best rides follows accompanied with one or two of my most memory rides with them, in no particular order: The Family Reunion - as the name implies, was with "The Family" Racer - One of three riding buddies in a whole summer's worth of perfect conditions, exploration, and good times - the Summer of Riding JonBoy and his Mrs. - White Rim DNS B - One ride of Fall Perfection - the rest he missed to his enduring loss. DR - The Trail of Tears. Twice. White Rim DNS. CX RAWROD. And Fall Perfection. Benson - Triathlon is Stupid 07, Several rides which were overcome by the memory of post-ride BBQ's Brently - Fall Perfection and Amos Exploration Stu - Hobble Creek and a Warm Rain, Amos Exploration Original Jared - Brianhead in the Rain. The Ring of Fire, pts 1 and 2 Red (and the apparition formerly known as Keller) - the other two who took part in the Summer of Riding. Prominently featured in the Summer of Riding was Joy, which is the only ride I take full credit for naming. Widmer - Fish Landing Doug (not to be mistaken with Dug of FatCyclist fame) The Trail of Tears (1X), Fall Perfection, CX RAWROD. Doug makes the list inspite of the last entry. While I'm over his part of CX RAWROD, I never offered him absolution. Yury - The Trail of Tears (once, on which Yury applied the name) Ghrumpy - The Wind with Two Heads Only a couple of these rides are epic, but all very memorable. Harse has been there often, but is almost always so far off the front with another group that I barely remember he was there. A couple of months ago, Harse, Thinner, and myself had lunch at a little polynesian place where Harse and I rejoiced in Benson's return. We immediately began planning a trip down south to pedal. While neither of us could promise Thinner it'd be fun, we could definitely promise him it'd be memorable.