Thanksgiving Weekend Bike Rides

Holiday weekends are always a great time for getting in some extra bike rides. My husband, along with many of our cycling friends, usually has a day or two off from work on holiday weekends. We celebrated Thanksgiving early, when we went up to New Jersey to visit my husband's family. We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, November 22nd, with 22 family members. We got back to Florida on Tuesday, November 25th, just in time to participate in some local bike rides. On Your Mark Cycling Club We were able to get in 3 road bike rides over the Thanksgiving weekend. We did a Turkey Day Metric Century on Thursday morning with some of our On Your Mark cycling team members. That was a FAST 65 mile ride that started from Palm Beach Gardens, and worked its way east to ride along the beach on A1A. We rode all the way to Hobe Sound Beach Park and back. It was a bit chilly in the morning so we purchased official red and white OYM team arm warmers from the On Your Mark Performance Center bike shop. OYM Performance Center is run by our friend Matt GoForth. Matt, along with his wife Julie, hosted the Turkey Day Metric ride which started from their store in Palm Beach Gardens. They had food and drinks available before and after the ride - Dunkin Donuts, coffee, orange juice, champagne, grapes, bananas, pretzels and more. Boca Raton Bicycle Club On Saturday we rode with a couple of members of the Boca Raton Bicycle Club. We started from Palmetto Park Blvd. in Boca and rode north to the Lake Worth Pier, and back, for a total of 39.29 miles. Another chilly day, so we were glad to have our OYM arm warmers with us. There were a TON of people out along A1A. Lots of cars enjoying the scenic drive, walkers, runners and huge amounts of bikers. Guess we weren't the only ones enjoying a holiday weekend bike ride. Team in Training Cycle Team On Sunday, my husband and I rode with 7 other Team in Training cycle team alumni. We started from Bryant Park, in Lake Worth, and rode south to Linton Blvd. in Delray Beach, and back. We were originally planning on riding north, to the Palm Beach Inlet, and back but there was a nasty headwind from the south. It's always easier to ride into the wind on the first half of the ride, when you've got more energy. We had a great tailwind on the ride back. Rob and I hopped on with a FAST group for awhile, while we were heading back north, and got up to 28.1 MPH! Now I guess I'll go into bike with-drawl this week, as everyone goes back to their normal work schedule. Luckily Christmas and New Year aren't too far away. I'll have to start checking with my other cycling friends to see what rides are planned around those two holidays. Take care, Lynn Smythe AKA the Bike Diva