6th of July and Summer Showed Up

This 4th of July 2014 was pretty good overall, as 4th of July's go here in the Mid-West. Lots of fun, with family, friends, neighbors, and so on. Good food, good parades, and good fireworks made for a very nice holiday indeed. The holiday forecast for the weather was perfect. Perfect! Two days later...the definition of our humid continental climate is revealed in all its discomfort. The hot, humid, raining, jungle like atmosphere is not great for bike riding I can tell you that. So the classic morning bike ride everyone has expected and looking forward to, was canceled – again.  However, when it comes to Team Sprockets, the glass is usually half full. A good try, and a good ride was put to the test later in the early evening. Though the heat, wind, and humidity, made for some challenging riding – patience, and a fair amount of calm pacing, and made for a wonderful pleasant riding.

Lake Minnetonka Odyssey

It was a great day for a bike ride around Lake Minnetonka this last Sunday morning! Even though it was slightly overcast, with rain in the forecast – it did not stop this big group of Team Sprockets riders from taking on one the Twin Cities largest lakes.  Flooding presented a challenge to bike around the 35 mile distance of the lake with the recent rains, and did require adjustments to the usual route taken with a slight detour toward St. Bonifacious. Ironically, this did create new scenery, roads, and elevation to explore in the process. The rain did finally come however – and as refreshing as it was, most of the ride was completed perfectly by these Sprocketeers in excellent weather. Indeed, this ride is fast becoming a desirable mainstay in the Team Sprockets go-to rides of the last two seasons. Thank you to one of our team members, Tom Lesser from Excelsior, Minnesota, for hosting this week's wonderful ride!

Team Sprockets Rides Again!

This blog has been on hiatus for a while. After a very long winter (no riding in March or April, and very little in May), Team Sprockets is ready to ride again. Our first "official" group ride will occur this Saturday morning, June 7, 2014. We'll leave from G-Man's home for a 25 miler throughout Mendota Heights, St. Paul and parts unknown.

We will be inspired by the Tour of Luxembourg, which is occurring at exactly the same time in the little European country of Luxembourg, home of Andy and Frank Schleck. We will allow our Luxembourg Lions to roar once again as we take advantage of the precious little time that we call summer and prepare our bodies to take on our own "Tour de France."

Watch this blog for updates and news about Team Sprockets in the days, weeks and months ahead.

Grab the lycra, saddle up, and shine on!


-- G-Man