This year our bike club had a poker ride. The idea is: they give you a list
of all the participating bike shops. You develop your own route. Then you
ride to each bike shop, and when you're there, you get a playing card. At
the end of the ride, you turn in your best hand. Highest hands got prizes.
I registered for it, but I couldn't get anyone to go with me. So I asked my
daughter if she wanted to go. She said "Sure! ...but I don't know how to
play poker." I assured her that knowledge of poker was not essential.
Just this year -- she's nearly 12 -- she's become a much stronger rider. I
was surprised recently how we easily looped Lake Sammamish, with only one
rest break. I cut out some of the detours and gratuitous hills from my
original chosen route so it would be a little shorter. Still, this ride was
going to be about 35 miles, and with plenty of climbing. It would be
interesting to see how it went.
I was interested to see how each bike shop had its own sort of personality.
You kind of notice this anyway, but when you go to several in succession,
you can really see the contrasts. One shop didn't let us have but one card
(I was the only registered rider). Another, after hearing we had ridden
already 20 miles, smiled benignly at my daughter and then let her draw
twice. The rest of the shops let her draw with being officially registered.
One shop had the feeling of an ant hill -- customers and shop people
swarming over piles of stuff, cars coming in and out. One place had a
meticulously clean feel (for a bike shop), another felt rather grungy. At
another shop they let out a cheer when I said that we were headed to the
finish line and we had decided to cut out SuperGo from our list of places to
visit.
For me, it was helpful -- there were a couple of places that have unique
products or services that either I hadn't been in a long time, or had only
heard about, and had never visited. Now I know where they are and what they
are like.
Rose rode like a champ. We had a breaks every 4-5 miles, including for
lunch, and also a smoothie stop. (That smoothie sure hit the spot -- it was
a hot, hot day.) Towards the end of the ride she was complaining about her
seat -- we'll move it back a bit for the next long ride. I'm looking forward
to more rides with her in the future.
--
Warm Regards,
Claire Petersky
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