Breaking Bread with 'Family'

Sleeveless weather, even for guys

"Friends are the family you choose for yourself" is a wonderful thought, and one I've always felt (No Z, not that kind of Felt :D) was particularly on point. With that in mind, I had a great time on Saturday riding up to Karen's Bakery in Old Folsom with about 20 riders from my Hammerin Wheels bike club to share a great brunch with friends not seen in far too long.

Like most large clubs, we tend to break into smaller groups with shared goals or styles or personality meshes, and too rarely do those groups join together. So, like a family reunion, it was especially soulful when two major sub-groups, a lot of newbies, and some Lone Rangers like me all got together to break bread and catch up.

With so many riders and bikes we pretty much took over the whole outdoor patio, with bikes lined up 5-10 deep in places, leaning against walls and racks before heading inside to mob the brunch line. With lots of fresh bakery goods as well as great salads and fresh-squeezed juices, there was no shortage of temptation. I settled for a delicious blueberry muffin, a tall glass of fresh OJ, and headed outside to find a seat.


The girl's table, sans me, out of frame to the right. Justin has the good scenery gene too.

My friends Lourdes and Mary were sitting right by the door, and there was a seat at the table for the taking, so I sat at the "girls" table. The guys called me out on that one a few minutes later. I was tempted to roll my eyes in mock disgust and implore of them "Are we in kindergarten, or what?" but insisted instead that my momma didn't raise no fools, and the scenery was better at my table than theirs! :D Besides, I was able to sprint or coast on the hour-long ride there, and chat with most of my friends for a few minutes, so just wanted to relax and enjoy the hot sunshine on bare skin.

Even I wore a sleeveless jersey on Saturday, as temps were forecast to rise into the triple digits - which they did. Saturday hit 102 in the shade and Sunday 106, or 111 and 118 on my outdoor thermometer at home. By the time I got home at 10:30 it was 96 and climbing fast, so a good idea to have started at 7:30.

Sunday I closed everything up tighter than everything else, rested, read and listened to tunes. All, in all, it was a great ride, and so nice to catch up with friends, some of whom I have not seen in person for over 6 months. Kudos to my friend Lourdes for organizing the ride, and everyone else for sucking it up so early on Saturday and joining in the festivities. We have to do it again - soon!


The "mob", with me trapped in the back behind 20 of my closest friends!