TCBC Watermelon Ride

My annual July 4th event is to participate in the TCBC Watermelon Ride. I've been doing their pre-registration for all but one of the last five years or so and have had the pleasure of doing the fifty mile ride, the twenty-five mile ride, the twenty-five mile ride with my inlaws, the fifteen mile ride that was really a twenty mile ride with my inlaws and a Burley with my daughter in it, and this year the fifteen mile family ride without getting lost with my inlaws, daughter in a Burley, and wife. It's always a good time, except the two hour wait in the morning before my co-riders show up (I have to have registration forms there early, and when you tack trying to get the bikes and burley in the appropriate cars, including Pooteewheet's munchkin bike that doesn't have a crossbar that works on the rack appropriately, but you don't believe it, so you try four of five configurations before finally dismantling it and stuffing it in the back of whatever is available), but this year I solved that little dilemma, not by doing two volunteer activities, but by hauling along a lawn chair and a Neiwert book. I'd recommend the ride to everyone else as it comes complete with picnic - but if you're a nonmember family the $40 day-of price runs a little steep if there's just 2 or 3 of you (but it's perfect if there are 6 or 8 of you). TCBC is a great organization even without the Watermelon ride. There's a fairly large stable of rides you can attend, usually more than one a day in some part of the cities. There are plenty of fun people to ride with at all levels. And, they have insurance, so there's double safety if you have an accident.

On to some pictures:

Here's some random biker I don't know at all at the Vadnais-Snail Lakes rest stop. I didn't know him, but I did bump into an Order of the Arrow member I was in OA with (a Boy Scout thing) back in my high school days. He was the leader over in Buffalo.

Here's a picture of how much I have to pull, sans a 35# little girl and my sizeable frame. That's lemonade on my seat, not one of those trucker urine bombs.

Eryn likes to stretch before she gets back in the Burley - there's a lot of pedaling involved, and she worries about pulling a muscle. That, or she's a super hero, saving other riders at the rest stop from a falling tree. Hard to say. The bandaid on the knee is actually one of two she got that day - before we made it from Mom's car to my car, she'd tripped and skinned both her knees. I have blood on my shirt to prove it, but I won't post a picture of that.

There was picnicking with a nutritious meal - we were pleased she actually ate her hot dog and lots of watermelon. We thought she'd eat the box of Nerds she'd scored and the cookie and be done:

And no picnic or ride is complete without grandpa getting arrested for peculiar behavior on the playground. The guy in the background, with the glasses, is actually an undercover cop assigned to follow him around on a permanent basis - you'd think he'd have noticed by now.

Finally, there was no t-shirt or water bottle - but a very nice hanky we can wave at Twins games if they ever make it to the Series again, in 2005.