Ah - Saturday morning - relax with a latte'

[Dennis G. Blackburn]

My Saturday morning "fix" (attached)

[DanEpps]

You gonna ride that or drink it Dennis?

[Neal Meyers Jr]

Nice ride!!

Neal Meyers Jr
Euharlee Woodshop
White GA.

[Dennis G. Blackburn]

Drunk it Will ride tomorrow. Got to pedal 61 miles to hit my 100 miles for the week. I know I can do it - I know i can do it.

Now back to the yard work.

[Neal Meyers Jr]

100 miles a week you, must love to ride. I can not say I would ride something with a motor 100 miles a week, let alone something were I was the motor.

Now if it was a boat?? That is some thing else all together.
Love to ride the waves and out smart the FISH.

Neal Meyers Jr
Euharlee Woodshop
White GA

[DanEpps]

...Now if it was a boat?? That is some thing else all together.
Love to ride the waves and out smart the FISH...

Well, at least there is water in Allatoona this year so you can do that!

[Gary Campbell]

Dennis..
I have a win-win for you. Drink yours... pedal down to see me....I will make you another with a picture of a boat on it. Pedal back home. Done. You get your hundred miles...dont have all those grass pieces on your socks, no dirt on the knees, next weeks 100 is taken care of and you can do yard work and make the bride happy!

[Neal Meyers Jr]

Okay Dan here is the the plan, You come on down to White and we'll get a boat and we'll splash it in the Chattahoochee river, ride it to the Gulf of Mexico and have Gary meet us in my home town of Crystal River FLA. and ride to the Keys for the Latte.

Neal Meyers Jr
Euharlee Woodshop
White GA

[Darren Harvey]

nothing like a nice latte at sunrise in the keys!! got a family trip in october can't wait.

[Peter Walsh]

Interesting. I never had one with ketchup in it before.
regards,

[Dennis G. Blackburn]

Peter - That's not Ketchup - That's Cajeta Quemada. (Goat milk Caramel) I chose it because I like Caramel and it doesn't bleed into the froth. (gives me time to take a picture)

Gary - I'm gonna wait till they get that new 15 million dollar bike sidwalk built from your backyard to Key West - before I truck down to the Keys with my bike. But I DO intend to get down there to visit you before then. I figure the bike path won't be done done until about 2014.

And for the rest of you. I'm afraid I let you down. I didn't make my 100 miles for the week. Lots of rain here in Central FL messed up my yardwork schedule.

But I traded 61 bike miles for 3.21 Kilometers in my rowing skull. Not exactly an even trade in distance - but it was in effort.

[DanEpps]

All this talk about putting on the miles on a bike reminds me of something I did many years ago.

When I was in the Navy I was stationed in Norfolk VA. Naval Station Norfolk is a very large base so I decided to buy a bike to get around on. I picked out a bright, shiney new 10-speed--the type with the old rams-horn handlebars.

A day or two after buying the bike, I decided to head out to Virginia Beach, about 20 miles away. It was a great ride and all I could think of on the way was what a great day of girl-watching ahead of me (hey, I was about 19 years-old ).

I made it to the beach and rode down the boardwalk until I found a good spot. I stopped, got off the bike and tried to stand up straight...OUCH!!! After 20 miles of riding, and not being conditioned for it, the rams-horn handlebars had really taken a toll on my stomach muscles. Instead of the great day I envisioned at the beach, I spent the day trying to figure out how to bet back to Norfolk without having to peddle back!

In the end I peddled back and nursed sore muscles for a few days. I eventually got the muscles conditioned enough that I could ride to the beach without having to walk in a stoop all day.

Today's bikes have thankfully taken that painful piece of biking out of the picture. Now it is just the legs that want to sieze-up when I get on a bike. At least my brain is smart enough to overrule when I think I want to take off on a ride like that again.

[Dennis G. Blackburn]

Dan,

I didn't know they had Rams horns handlebars THAT MANY YEARS AGO.

[DanEpps]

Okay Dan here is the the plan, You come on down to White and we'll get a boat and we'll splash it in the Chattahoochee river, ride it to the Gulf of Mexico and have Gary meet us in my home town of Crystal River FLA. and ride to the Keys for the Latte...

I was trying to figure out how I could put in on either the Conasauga or Oostanaula and end up down in your neck of the woods. Looks like the closest rendezvous point would be the Coosa in Rome since it would be pretty hard to paddle upstream on the Etowah from Rome to Cartersville.

Way back a long time ago (in the 1970s), I used to participate in a "raft" race on the Oostanaula. The rules were pretty simple--the raft had to be made from found items and it had to be human-powered. Our team's raft consisted of a pair of surplus military aircraft external fuel tanks, angle-iron from some old bed frames, some expanded steel mesh, a bunch of 1x6s, two old ten-speed bikes and a galvanized cattle watering tub.

We made the deck from the angle-iron and expanded steel and attached a paddle wheel made from angle-iron and the 1x6s. The old bikes were welded to the deck and attached to the paddle wheel with chains on the peddle sprockets. The tub (it was one of those oval-shaped things) was welded to the bow and filled with ice and beer (now your beginning to understand how this beast was powered ). All welding was done with old coathangers (we spent our money on beer, not wleding rods ).

We had six people on the team and two would peddle as hard as they could for five minutes. When they came off the bikes, the next pair got on and peddled as hard as they could. Sinnce you were allowed a beer only after taking your turn peddling (the incentive to peddle), our guys could throw up a rooster-tail of water spray. We won every year, coming in sometimes hours ahead of the second-place finishers.

Ahhh...the memories of youth (got a lot that I probably won't share ).

[DanEpps]

Dan,

I didn't know they had Rams horns handlebars THAT MANY YEARS AGO.

It wasn't THAT long ago Dennis...wait a minute, it WAS that long ago. Geez, time flies.