The Bone Ride

This years Bone Ride celebrated its 20th anniversary. A crew of 11 affiliated with SRAM plus one in spirit (Andy) showed up for the 160 mile trek from Milwaukee to Madison to Milwaukee.

This years ride started out with what appeared to be a nice day. The group rolled out of Wauwatosa at 8:30am under the watchful eye of Mr Sun. After about 15 miles, a mist appeared in the air along with the rain clouds that would remain with us for the rest of the day. The 80 miles of leg one were ridden in the wet with a tolerable headwind.

Upon arrival in Madison the rain let up long enough to dry out a bit and enjoy a nice lunch in liberal town USA. After a refilling and restocking of all necessary fuels our crew of 11 rolled out of Madison a few minutes ahead of the rest of the group.

The return to Milwaukee turned out to be a bit more eventful. Once outside of Madison the rain and wetness again returned along with newcomer cold. A brush run in with a local farmer and his Ford pickup started the chain of events to come. The group worked together through the rolling hills of Wisconsin taking advantage of a now tailwind. After a quick stop at the BP the group rolled out for the final 35miles attempting to beat thunderstorms with rumors of hail fast on our tail. Just after leaving the remaining freight train came a callin. Rolling along at 30mph, all bets were now off on the pleasantries of our core groups steady pace. Shortly thereafter Boz incurred an unfortunate broken spoke which took him off the lead group. A blessing in disguise for me now having a friend to finish the remaining 20 some odd cold, thunderstorm ridden, wet, windy, lightning filled miles. Thanks BOZ for a wheel to sit on.

Ron, Adam, Balmer, Zelleman all deserve big kudos for finishing with the lead group. Tawse also gets big accolades for hanging with that pace most of the way as well.

As for Chris Raymo - she's one tough cutie and now has a completed bone ride under her belt. Well done young lady.

A special thanks has got to go out to ED and his wife ANN for driving support.

Until next year.........