Monday, September 1, 2008

Big Ride Big Golf Big Weekend


The weekend started out with 18 holes of golf at Brackett's Crossing in Lakeville on Friday with my neighbor Dianne and a couple of her friends. It's a long course. I played from 6500 yards and got into trouble due to lack of familiarity with the course. 102 was the final score... Ouch! Saturday was the big TCBC ride out of Snail Lake to Scandia and back. Close to 65 miles of hammerfest riding. Yeah, I stayed with the lead pack which was whittled down to about ten guys but I barely hung on. Mark Stolpe, back from Idaho for a visit and John Wyland rode with me. Rob and Lori Belz were with the much bigger pack going in to Scandia but the big climb out of Marine dropped quite a few riders. I barely made it to the top where I joined John Wyland as we chased back on. I was gassed but I made it. Joe "Hammering"Hamlin was in the pack and he made the ride look easy. Jerry Engen did the shorter 50 mile route. Later in the day, I went to Golf Galaxy with my neighbor Dianne. She picked up a new driver and iron set. We then drove over to Oak Marsh where I shot 42 on the back nine. Sunday was nothing but golf. Kathleen and I played Valleywood in Apple Valley with a couple of friends. I shot 93 in windy conditions which wasn't too bad... Monday, we had a lot going on but I managed to get in a 16 mile cruise through the war zone, aka, the Republican National Convention. The protesters were out. I gave the thumbs up to every cop, trooper and paramedic I saw on duty. They had a tough job to do today. I continued on to Ohio where I took a right on Cherokee and then up Smith Avenue. From there, I rode over to 35E and the ride home. Is that Andy Kruse behind the mask smashing a window at the RNC in Saint Paul?