Chicks that ride organized events

With the dawning of fall our rides are limited to weekends and on Saturday, October 8th, the Chicks found a fabulous event.   Trek Bicycles put on a Breast Cancer Awareness ride and we decided to sign up for the one hosted by Two Wheels One Planet  (TWOP). For several reasons, it's a great local bike shop and any time one of us have been in one of two stores it's been a fantastic experience.   If you are female and want to get good advise on buying a bike or equipment, this is the place to go.

Stacy ended up with a sore back and stayed home but all other chicks were ready to ride.  Chris provided pink curling ribbon to wear on our helmets. We met at a local shopping center and rode over to the ride start.  We had originally planned to meet for breakfast but the shop had bagels, juice and coffee to fuel us before our ride.   We signed a simple waiver, received our awesome t-shirts and stuffed goody bag.   Everything was well organized and the store estimated about 80 riders.  There was information on early detection of breast cancer, a Leukemia Team in Training bake sale and another vendor with samples of probiotic drink mix.  Pat and Theresa rode our goody bags back over to the cars with plenty of time before the ride start.

All of the riders were encouraging and friendly.  There was also quite a representation from male riders.  A 10 mile and 25 mile ride were planned.  Hard to imagine that most of chicks that started riding in March could ever imagine doing a 25 mile ride, but now that's a short ride for us.  The 10 milers started out first and then the breast cancer riders moved to the front for the start of the 25 mile ride.   TWOP had volunteers riding among the riders to help guide on the route and be around if anyone had any mechanicals.   (And to raise Becky's seat again, I think we need to tighten that seat bolt, it seems to keep slipping.) 

We each had card stock "Breast Cancer Awareness Ride" signs on the front of our bikes.  Motorists really noticed them and yielded to us as a group as we travelled up Tustin Avenue.   The ride up Tustin and across Santiago was a great easy warm up about 10 miles per hour.  Then we hit our familiar river trail along Back Bay with a small headwind.  Karen and Theresa took off with the front group.  It sure didn't seem that Karen hadn't ridden in three weeks.  Just look at her go on that new Raliegh Road Bike.  She is totally comfortable in her new pedals and shoes.  Theresa kept forgetting to take it easy since she had a 1/2 marathon to run on Sunday.

It was a beautiful clear day for a ride; you could see the foothills. After rounding the top end of back bay we circled around at Jamboree under the trail and rode up the San Diego Creek River trail toward our normal Chicks starting point at Col. Barber Memorial Marine Park.  We continued on the bike trail just south of Barranca and took it all the way to Jeffrey. A short stint along the sidewalk on Jeffrey brought us to the bike trail again and we had a great smooth ride all the way to Alton Parkway.  It was a little tough getting Karen to not turn off at San Canyon to TiaJuannas for margaritas, but Theresa reminded her that TWOP had beer for after our ride.  There were ducks bobbing along in the river as we rode along.

Could this be?  It seemed like there were no hills.  We went Laguna Canyon toward Quail Hill and hit the bike trail again just past San Canyon.  Karen thought maybe we were going to go up Shady Canyon.  No coyotes on this trip like we sometimes see on the riverbed. All the riders were very courteous and respectful which made for a very pleasant ride.  



Karen with a group of riders coming back on the River Trail for the home stretch

 We rejoined the San Diego Creek trail again as we headed back to the shop.  Chris was back sooner than Theresa could get her camera out to take a photo and then Suzanne breezed in pretty close behind.  We got some Sandwiches, chips and soda and then Becky and Pat rode in.   I heard that Pat was to use coughing power to keep her bike moving forward.  



Pat and Becky finishing the last mile.



The festivities continued with raffle prizes almost for everyone it seemed.   Ask Karen about hers. We spent a few moments visiting the inside of the shop and looking at the great selection of bikes and accessories they carry.  They were offering a 15% discount on purchases during the event. Chris picked up a cute pair of socks.  This event was well organized, a lot of fun and raised a little money for a good cause as well as increasing awareness for a critical disease.  We will plan to do it again next year and invite some more chicks (and maybe some husbands and children).