DUDE!!!

Sweet Jesus what a hoot. I really hope that Allentown appreciates the blessing that this bike race is to the Valley and that they bust their arses to keep it here - give me a ring if you need help. First leg of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown rolled through town on Tuesday and I am already counting the days until next year. The Fireman and I split two gears between us and headed out to chase this race around town. Started out our journey by riding downtown to search for some schwag - caught a bit of the women's Elite race - got some t-shirts and a pretzel and set to plannin' on our next stop. We decided instead of watching the start and then then struggling through traffic to get to our next stop - we would head out to a point fairly well out and wait for them to come to us. We headed off towards the Parkway - battled it out with an older father/son team on tricked out road bikes until they rode another direction - I think they were scared - and chose a spot two thirds of the way up the switchbacks heading towards the North parkway. There were a handful of folks waiting there already - including aforementiond father/son - they dug our bikes - we dug theirs - started taking bets on when the first rider would hit the climb - Fireman chose lowest at 7 and a half minutes and even he was high - these dudes were haulin ass. Watched two laps there and headed up a bit further North - figuring we would hang just past the feed station and lay in wait for some discarded schwag - or swag - depends how you roll - we left that spot after lap 4 schwagless and swagless - turns out we were a bit too far past feed station. Headed out to 24th St to head back South as the feeling was the descent down 24th followed by a hard right might prove for some excitement - the ride down 24th was amazing - maybe the coolest part of the day was that the streets of Allentown were empty except for people and bikes - smiling people at that - wild - we ruffled the feathers of Spang's Army a little bit - they kept telling us we were not allowed on the road - the Fireman kept telling them no - I fear authority - even those goobers - and would head up onto the sidewalk for a few moments before I dropped back to the street. So anyhoo - smiling people and bikes - what the hell - heaven? The vantage point from Hamilton St was stellar - no crashes thankfully as I do not think it would have been pretty - saw a dear friend I have not seen for way to long - people who love bikes will even bribe their kids with candy so that they can go see the bike race - great stuff. A few more laps - Tyler is in there somewhere - then off to our next stop. Rode east on Hamilton towards St. Luke's - one big assed hill and one big assed gear - not for the faint of heart - tried to keep the momentum rolling as we hit the incline - got cheers and cowbell ringing for my climb on that old Schwinn. Fireman needed to head towards home to walk the dog so I headed with him and we stopped for a nice tall cold beer - heaven? I intended to head back after the Fireman departed but got another visitor - had another beer and some shit shootin' in the sunshine. Decided to cut the grass and let the beauty of the day soak in. Damn that was fun. Has been a feel good week after such a tough weekend. Girls on the Run update soon. Peace.