cross!

it's been a busy past week full of friends, good food, beverage consumption and, of course, bike rides. b and the boys came up to hang out this weekend. i managed to sneak in a 70 miler on the road early in the am before they got to town. we acted like tourists walking around campus with cameras as 2 of the boys had never been to state college before. in the evening we did a bar tour of sorts exposing them to all of the local hangouts. sunday we did the obligatory waffle shop brunch / lunch.

yesterday LL and I took the cross bikes out to rothrock. the route was super fun -- out to colyer lake then penn roosevelt and back via biedelheimer, up gettis and down to bear meadows and home. i'm loving my cross bike more and more as I continue to ride it. in the evening, e and i hung out for a few and caught up a bit. we watched crash and were amused by vicious dogs playing tug of war with a rope-toy. both of us were beat and called it an early night.

tomorrow is the ritual 4th of july century. we leave at the butt-crack of dawn - 7am to make our way out to RB winter state park. while my fitness is questionable at this point after a few weeks of only doing shorter rides, i'll most likely show up and hang on to the pack for as long as i can. the other part of the 4th of july ritual is fireworks and food in houserville with friends of both the 2 and four-legged varieties. chaya gets to bark at the neighbors, beg for food and dive into the koi pond. i get to eat good food and enjoy the fireworks with good friends. it's normally a good time for all.

summer is, without a doubt, my favorite time of the year.