We went to the STL Bike Federation’s swap sale today, bought a few things (gloves and leg warmers) and connected with some of our Team Kaldi’s friends. We had great plans to go biking in the Park afterwards, but inertia, the couch, and the warm sun shining through the window, all combined to scuttle those plans. At least on this sunny January day, we could still dream about bicycling.

The two main topics at the swap meet, at least among our friends, seemed be knees and summer bicycling plans. Our ages, as that of our bike friends, is such that many of our friends are either contemplating knee surgery or recovering from it. I am fortunate to be in neither camp, so the subject of summer vacations was much more interesting.

Anne is planning on doing the UP tour, run by the same group that organized last summer’s Michigan Shoreline tour. Some of our friends are planing on riding RAGBRAI, the Alleghany Trail and one is even going to Alaska. Anne and I are going to California, but not really to bicycle. After I scope out how many vacation days I will spend on that trip, I can figure out what to do for the rest of the summer.

Dave Bikes Mackinac Island

The following is the gist of the phone convo between me, her wyrd brother-in-law, and Jane. Convo is a synonym of conversation, but also conveys a certain hipness. Yeah, right. I tried being funny (ha-ha not looking), when the first thing I said was, “Did he feel like a Muslim?” Silence. Anne then exclaimed, “Tell her who you are!” I did and we were off and rolling, so much for me being funny. Jane’s answer was, “He felt like a Hawaiian.” Naturally, we were speaking of President Obama.

Jane attended Mr. Obama’s speech in Ann Arbor last week and got to shake his hand. News reports showed U of M students standing out in the cold all night to snag a ticket. Jane has friends and got special Whitehouse tickets to the event and spent most of her wait inside in the warmth.

The photo is from a few year’s back. Dave is obviously having a great time. Mackinac Island is a great place for family bicycling. I hear the fudge is pretty good too.