we rocked, we rolled, all that...

Saturday was pretty much everything I could ask for in a bike ride. The weather was great. The route was beautiful. It went pretty much south from Fernandina Beach to the mouth of the Saint Johns River for the first half and returned the second. There was a breeze out of the south, which meant the first half had it's hard parts (especially the bridges) but the trip home was easier.

The local fishwrap covered the event and got this picture of the youngster. Looks all determined and focused, doesn't he? I'm not sure where I was when they took this. From the angle, the photographer needed to be right about over my shoulder. There's a video from the newspaper of the start, and we're in it. You can't blink, but there's a little time counter at the bottom left. When it gets to about 1:23, you can see the youngster go by in his yellow jersey. I'm right in front of him in the Dogfish Head Beer jersey.

That was pretty much the start of a great day in the lumberyard. I was (and still am) so proud of the youngster. We kept the speed manageable, and paced him all the way. He did the whole 100 km, and yeah, toward the end he was slow, and asking me how much farther, but he pedaled his way all the way to the finish line. The rest of Saturday, he didn't want to move much, but he did it...and yeah, when we finished I gave him a big hug and told him how proud I was. It was my own private Hollywood moment in the Lumberyard, and I appreciate that more than I could ever put into words...here or anywhere. I know it's a day I won't soon forget. I'll stop before I get any more sappy about the whole thing.