The Melon Weekend

Wally talking to Lenny and Mark in Earlville, IL.


Saturday

Got up early, packed the car and drove out to Momi’s. The day before I bought a GPS for the car, partly for route marking, but I’m tried of getting lost, driving to WI and back (other places too). While driving out, I saw Greg behind me, and he followed me to Momi’s. Ace was there already. Then Roy and Rick M. arrived. John D. arrived a little later. The six of us went for a ride, an easy 25 miles, then came back and split into three groups. Roy and Tom took the Paw Paw route. Rick M. and John D. did the 62 mile route, and Momi, Greg and Moo did the 32 mile route. We had to put down all three arrows.

The GPS helped, though Momi knew most of the roads. Apparently Ace thought he was flying a jet. According to Roy, he was doing 80. After marking we all headed back to Momi’s. Roy, Ace, Rick M., and John D. got back before us. Roy already polished off four beers. Momi made us burgers and ribs. Thanks again Momi, very nice of you. We all left Momi’s around 2pm.

Sunday

Got up even earlier than Saturday. Left the house around 5am, and got about a mile from the house, and realized I forgot to put my magnet on my front wheel. So, I turned back to get it. Because of that, I lost some time, but since there’s not much traffic that time of the day, I still got out to Plano around 6:55am, for our 7am start. I found the Caucus heads in the parking lot. Then I went over to the registration area to say hi to Heather, and saw some other folks I haven’t seen in awhile. Roy was there chatting with Heather and the others.

When we left the start, our group consisted of the following: Greg, John D., Roy, Wally, Tom (the BIL), Doug Moss, Jen and Moo. I was surprised to find that Rick M. and Ace were not doing the century. Ace was riding with a gal, who had never ridden 62, so he was coaching her.(I never saw Andrew.)

Our group soon broke into two groups. I slowed down to ride with Roy and John D. and Greg came back to join us. Before Somonauk we came across Tom (the BIL), and told him to jump on. We didn’t stop at the Somonauk rest stop, and the five of us pushed on to Earlville. Around 5 miles out from Earlville, I saw this pack of riders behind us, and they were not moving slow. Soon, they caught us, and it was Jos, Edward Hospital folks and Endure It people. There was about 14 of them, and as soon as they passed us, I told John D., “I’ll see you in Earlville”. So, Roy, Greg and Moo jumped on. It was a really great ride. I met Mary Mars, who leads the Endure It intermediate rides. She was only doing the 62 mile route, and most in the group were. She asked me, how many miles I was doing, and told her the “170 mile option”, that blew her away. Then I talked to Donna for awhile, and I also met her husband, Dave Jansen, while riding in the pack. The pack was moving along at a pretty good clip, 22+. At one point we almost had a huge pile up. Apparently, those at the front, did not see the route arrows, or didn’t see the turn coming up. So, everyone slams their brakes on, yelling “slowing, slowing”. Plus, there was a lot of gravel on the road. Thanks again Jos and company for a great ride.

A note about the arrows: Everyone thought they were great. Though, I think next time we need to place a few more further out, before the turn. And on the Paw Paw route, we need to place more on the road, since some of them were partially gone. I think from farm equipment. I would also recommend that we use some spray chalk, indicating 100 mile route outbound, and also for return routes.

When we all arrived in Earlville, Eric was out taking pictures. I was surprised to see him, since he was iffy about coming out.

I saw a bunch of folks at the Earlville stop. Also, Ace, say’s, “hey, how did you guys get ahead of us?” Roy, told him, “didn’t you see us pass you?” I told him the truth, that we didn’t stop in Somonauk. Then I saw Doug, and he said he was trying to catch the Jos and company pack. And he wanted to know how fast we were going. I also talked with Carla and Eric. They were getting off around 11:30am, and wanted to ride with us. So, Greg, Tom (the BIL), Wally, and Moo took off for Paw Paw. Before leaving, we saw Lenny and Mark. They were coming back from Paw Paw. Lenny asked me, “did you ride out?”, I said yes. He said to Mark, his brother, “see I told you he was riding out, and back” We had a good pace line going until we hit the hills. Wally and Tom (the BIL), thanks for pulling. Sorry we dropped you guys. Before we got to Paw Paw, we saw that crop duster plane again. At one point, it came right over us, spraying the crops. Nothing like breathing in pesticide. It was the same plane we saw out at Momi’s. Greg, thanks for pulling me, and slowing down at times. I was getting a bit tried after leaving Paw Paw. We did regroup with Wally and Tom (the BIL). But, dropped them again before returning to Earlville.

Note, we saw Jos and company at Paw Paw rest stop, though his pack was a bit smaller. We also saw Laurel and Omar, Jan and her friend. I don’t remember her name.

When we arrived Earlville, I did not see Carla and Eric. I asked Terry, if he knew where they went, he thought to Paw Paw. I said “what?” So, I called Eric. They were riding the reverse route out to Paw Paw, but somehow took the wrong road, and that’s how we missed them. While waiting for Eric and Carla, this rider comes up to me, and asked me, “are you Rick Cosaro?” I’m going who is this guy? It turns out he reads my Blog, and just wanted to say hello. Sorry, I don’t recall his name. Though he does ride with Elmhurst. Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool. After Eric and Carla got back Earlville, we took off long with Wally, Greg, Rudy, Tom (the BIL) and Lou. I was thinking the pace would be a little slower, no chance

I was letting Eric pull, since I was getting tried and he had fresh legs. Though I did pull at one point, and we lost Lou, Tom (the BIL), Wally and Rudy – sorry guys. Then Eric says, "where's Carla?" I said, "she's just hiding behind me" - and Carla say's, "I like it back here". Before we crossed this busy road, Carla turned around, to head back to Earlville, since her car was there. After we crossed the road, we saw Larry. So, the four of us rode back to Plano. It was a great Melon, for a lot of reasons, the main reason, was seeing all my biker friends, as well as riding with some of them.


Some things to mention:
Momi, thanks again for your hospitality.
Roy, sorry your legs were cramping up. Hope you made it back okay?
Larry, sorry I did say goodbye, thanks for the pulls.
Wally good riding, thanks for the pulls.
Tom (the BIL), nice riding with you.
Jos thanks for some great pulls, from you and your pack.
John D. sorry we didn’t stay together for the whole ride. Thanks again for the beer too.
Greg, you’re a stud. Thanks for all the strong pulls.
Eric, it was great to ride with you again.
Carla, thanks for the ride.


Ride Stats:
Miles for the day: 165
Hours in the saddle: 8:52
Average Speed: 18.5 (Thanks to all the pullers.)
Average Grade: 1%
Max Grade: 9%

Finally, I heard the Melon had about 450 riders who actually paid. So, not bad considering Oswego had their century on the same day.