Tour for Cancer Century - 2009

This past Saturday morning was busy around the Pretzel City. The Pretzel Fest was in full swing all over the city, and the Kids Triathlon at the YMCA were the headliners.

It was also the sixth year that avid cyclists straddled their bikes and headed into the west country on our Tour for Cancer.

Most rode the beautiful 115 mile course through the communities of Lena, Warren, Stockton, Mt. Carroll, and Pearl City. Some opted for a shorter 30 mile ride through McConnell, Buena Vista, and Scioto Mills.

This year, the Grand Century reached further southwest into the hills along Massbach Ridge and Elizabeth Roads into Mt. Carroll. It was a scenic tour de force, as the sun broke our cloud cover, and the southerly winds intensified, as the heat of the day rose into the 90s.

Thankfully, the wind pushed us back up Loran Road towards Pearl City. I slapped on more sun block and packed extra ice in my water bottles. On the way home, I poured as much water over my head as I drank.

As a side note, custom bicycle builder, Dave Wages of Ellis Cycles, joined us from Waterford, Wisconsin astride his beautifully repainted steel cyclocross bicycle. Dave won the best lugged bicycle award at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show this year. It was fun riding with Dave and hearing him talk about his craftsmanship.

We would like to thank all our riders who came out and graciously contributed to the Ferguson Cancer Center. Our Tour doesn’t require an admission fee, and we don’t hand out Tee shirts. Our riders come for the love of peddling long challenging miles in our lovely Upper Left Hand Corner of Illinois. They come for the camaraderie, and each helped our local Ferguson Center combat Cancer.

Because of the absent mindedness of yours’ truly, nearly half of our contributions were temporarily lost. But a very thoughtful honest gentleman returned them to us through the Freeport Police Department.

Thanks once again to mio amico, Chuck Beichel, for helping mark the course, and a special thanks to Joe Dadez and Ann Mattson from the Freeport Bicycle Company for their technical assistance and support for this year’s event.

Hope to see you all again next year.

Peggy in the Rockies

Our diva of ladies cycling fashion was spotted recently as she flew across the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Our man on the scene caught up with Peggy, but only briefly as she dusted him up to Monarch Pass.

Lyle hung on, caught Diva at the top, and sent back a couple of great photos. Now the entire cycling world knows of her haute couture. Instead of strolling down a runway at the House of Chanel, Peggy gave new meaning to the French word haute by peddling up the big Rocky passes.

Formidable, Mme. Badgett.