June 7, 2017
Hello again! Where have you been!? You (un)lucky bastard! Well please fill me in and we’ll see what we can do about all that!
Things for me have drastically changed. Let me express myself.
- I won a bunch of stuff at the 2017 Wear Yellow Ride here in Nebraska. A bunch. I am not pinching your fancy about this. Here are the things I won:
- Most importantly a deep sense of satisfaction…. because I won a bunch of stuff!
- A hat
- A gift basket.
- A screen print(?)
- A bike!
Yes, I am a lucky middle-aged bastard! I am enjoying this deep sense of unearned merit that I have embraced as a result of my winning ways. Now that you have some sense of my puffed uppityness let me take a couple steps back and fill you in on the how now.
Way back in May I was but a humble bicycler with a will to type about bicycles. Then I registered for the Wear Yellow Nebraska Ride. I got there early and scoped out the raffle prizes. There were a ton of sweet prizes and there didn’t seem to be too many entries. So I grabbed $20 worth of raffle tickets and distributed them as I saw fit (i.e., mostly the baskets with the fewest tickets). There were more expensive raffle tickets you could buy for a single speed/fixed gear bicycle, but I forewent that option. Already feeling pleased with myself I met up with my dad and Rich and prepared to get a’ wheelin’.
The ride itself was very nice. I spent some time with Mr. Snot Sr. and my best friend Rich. The route was basically the same as last year, but the weather was much nicer.
This year I had also embraced a sense of my own limitations and signed up for the 42 miler instead any of the lengthier options. This, I reckoned, would allow me to return in time to enjoy some satisfying pancakes supplied by the superb Pancake Man himself and his accomplices!
At Mr. Snot Sr.’s suggestion I liberally applied the cinnamon before gobbling up my 4 or 5 pancakes they had generously piled upon my styrofoam plate. After socially interacting with Dad’s priest, Dad bought some raffle tickets and then we both waited around for the raffle to begin. I think I won the gift basket first and I’m sure the bike was last. In between was a screen print and a hat, in that,(or similar) sequence!
And that was the yellow glory that transformed me into the new, yellowishly glorious me!
I would like to offer my sincerest thanks to the Wear Yellow organization as well as all the individuals and businesses who donated raffle prizes.
How, the attentive among you may ask, did I manage to win a bicycle without purchasing the more expensive $5 raffle tickets for the single speed/fixed gear cycle? Well, I was informed that you are automatically entered just for registering for the ride! I suspect my rich uncle may have also bought a few tickets and written my name on them, but I have no evidence to support this conjecture.
There is so much more I would just love to tell you. However, I will try to restrain myself and fill you in on all of that other stuff later. Here are some of the items I have on tap:
- I have been experiencing some comfort jumping Shifty and Rich’s Gnarvester over at Tranquility. It seems there are some very sweet new jumping opportunities over there these days!
- Updates on the status of the many Wear Yellow prizes I won. In all honesty, I feel that perhaps this is a message from my mother who passed away from cancer 13 years ago. She was a great mom.
- A question for you - Would you prefer that I send you handwritten letters instead of typing? I am thinking maybe this would be more personal and maybe you could send me some sweet bicycle stories and/or photos. If this seems like a good idea, please just send me your address or otherwise inform me of your preference. We could even be pen pals! This never worked out in grade school, but I feel that both of us have cove along way since then and maybe now we can make it work.
- Mode Shift Omaha has some interesting information on a flyer I obtained at the somewhat recent Bike Advocacy Night.
- Good Life Gravel Gran Fondo is almost here (next Saturday, the 17th of June).
- Rollin to Colon is on its tyre! (next Sunday, the 18th of June).
As you may have noticed, there are many bicycle-related events that are happening these days. Tranquility is funner for mountainous bicycling than ever before. It’s nice weather for some taco riding. I hope you have availed/will avail yourself of one or more of these opportunities. Mr. Snot Sr. is on recently finished BRAN and I have the impression he is enjoying enjoyed it greatly. Maybe we can do some cool bicycling too! See you there! Let’s ride!
