I get these moments in life when I get bombarded with reunions with old friends of mine. Out of the blue they start calling or contacting at once I almost think it is a sign to get together because I will be leaving this life soon. Maybe it is a seasonal thing so I am blogging this for future study. Maybe because Ragbrai is in the air.
Started with a text form a long lost biking friend whom I think never joined the internet world. He asked if I was doing the big ride, Ragbrai, Then a phone call from an out of state friend about a late summer ride. Finally Anders contacted me about riding on Saturday.
Anders and myself do not get out and ride very much anymore. Both of us are working family men and syncing our worlds together is difficult. When we used to ride all the time we were toxic to each other so I appreciate the fact that we can now ride together a prove that this toxicity is over. We have gone up, grown immune. Sure it was late last night but we disproved our critics.
And what reunion would be complete without getting a certain bicycle running for such occasion? I beloved Trek 2200 became road worthy when I used this ride as an excuse to fix the flat tire it suffered during 2013's commuter season back in October of 2013. I tried to fix it back then but could not get the tire back on. I blamed the cold weather. Wait until summer to finish fixing the flat. This bike has had hundreds, maybe thousands of miles riding with Anders. It is a shame that some thief stole his Cannondale, the bike he shared 99% of those miles with.
The plan was to ride at night to House of Bricks to see Jason Boten's band, Nest of Snakes. Another friend I have not seen in quite some time. But we ended up exploring the trail system. Anders lives west of downtown and does not get many opportunities to frequent the trail system east. We met on the Bill Riley Trail and hung a left at the bridge and rode past Mullets and onto the Des Moines River Trail. New to him and possessing some scenic vistas of the DSM skyline.
Returning to Mullets we headed up the Principal Riverwalk and crossed the Women of Achieve bridge and stopped at the Bob Ray Japanese structure. After that it was time to hit the East Village. We grabbed a set of Tacos from Tacopocalypse and then chatted with Bob Moural, Brad and Cali, Laura and Will in front of the Locust Tap and then on the red bridge.
Finally we worked ourselves home parting ways in Water Works on the bridge. Hopefully another ride soon. It's perfect at night in the summer. Warm but not oppressive like during the day. Less crowded too.
Today I get to visit another friend for his birthday. Just making the rounds!
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