BentLovers & Friends
Signature Ride Week this year was packed full of events, preparations and great cycling! Thursday, we sponsored another clinic in our Ride South Workshop Clinics Series. This one was on Cycling Safer. After Lane’s accident on the Northshore bike trail, we were especially interested in safety. Many thanks to Chief Perry Waggoner (Reservoir Patrol), Raymond Duke (Rankin County Sheriff’s Office) and Capt. Johnny Rawls (Retired Captain MHP) for their comments and discussion with a very interested group of cyclists in attendance. Chief Waggoner had some safety items for the group that were much appreciated. We hope everyone learned something that will help us all to cycle safer!
Friday, we had a brief pre-ride meeting to work out remaining details for the 2011 Signature Ride on Saturday. Everyone seemed excited about the ride and planned their participation. Perhaps, next year, we can have dinner together somewhere? More prep on Saturday morning and we were able to get the group launched at 7:05 AM! The weather was perfect with a bit of wind to keep us cool. The MHP officers were awesome and helped us cross busy intersections without slowing down! Thank you Officer Coffee and company for a safe and accident free ride!!
Lane was the perfect host, as usual, with hot Chick-fil-A mini sandwiches, fruit cups, cold gatorade and water served at the rest stops. Liz was also SAG support with available supplies. Thank you Liz! Pastor David Sartin was very kind to open the Harrisville Baptist Church again this year and the group was right on schedule all the way to Prentiss. Brandie was kind to pick up hot Chick-fil-A sandwiches & brownies and bring them to Prentiss for the converging groups from Hattiesburg and Jackson. Thank you Dudley for coordinating the Hattiesburg launch! Thank you Brandie, and thank you Chick-fil-A for your assistance and help! We were able to launch the group within 10 minutes of the scheduled start time in spite of some cramping issues from this rider. Subsequently, Lane & I drove to the Hattiesburg Holiday Inn to welcome the group in, give out the tee shirts, medals, wine, beer, cheese, sausages, left over sandwiches and generally have a good time! Check out the pics on our web site. Especially note the great pic of Drez & Brandie, fresh newlyweds! Congrats!!!
Although we were a little bit disappointed no one wanted to ride back on Sunday, the event was a success thanks to everyone who came, some from great distances, to participate! We hope you enjoyed the ride and want to do it again next year! Please let us know how we can improve the event. It seemed many of us ended up at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant after the ride. Maybe we should plan for that? Thanks for your participation and thanks for your concern about Lane. We are glad she is doing some better and grateful for her help! This ride could not have happened without it!
Ride South! The Way to Ride!
Jim
