Baste Your Giblets and Grab Your Bike

2020 has certainly been a year of personal reflection for quite a few folks, lots of opportunity and time on our hands to figure out what is important in our lives and what maybe just seemed like it was before it was ripped out from underneath us as if we were dishes under the table cloth of a hack magician. Now as we enter into the holiday season each of us is faced with deciding which of our family traditions and personal praxis are important to us and which we can forgo this year and maybe into the future as well.



Not having family within a 6 hour drive (most of the family being three to four times that far) and then add to that the fact that I spent 4 1/2 years in the Marines and almost 10 years in corrections where holidays were just another day on the calendar and you don't get the chance to build up a lot of family traditions to miss. I haven't been home for any holiday in 30 years or better, not getting together this year won't seem any different than any other year for me but I do empathize with those who will be missing time with their families this year. Most of my holidays in recent memory have involved some sort of holiday ride, the Turkey Day Ride probably being the one I've gone to the longest so it was nice to see that it was still happening. Albeit there were several changes this year, instead of the normal meetup at someone's house followed by post ride bacon themed food and beer-mosas we decided to just meetup in front of Meadowlark Coffee and forgo the rest of the festivities.


As expected the group was quite a bit smaller this year than in years past, the weather being a little bit brisk didn't help on that matter either. Now I know there are going to be those who poo poo the fact that the ride went on at all but there are people that poo poo things just to poo poo and maybe that's their holiday tradition. However just to put your mind at ease. Medical professionals, some of the best in the country, put group rides at a 2 out of 9 on their chart. About the only things less risky require an almost entire hermit like lifestyle and let's be honest, how many of you have participated in riskier behavior... grocery shopping, going to work, getting your hair did, sending the little tykes to school... heck riding is even safer than spending time with the big guy upstairs. Finally, justification skip church and go ride bikes!

Edit: Sure there are risks involved with riding with a group of people and it's not as safe as riding alone however doing multiple of these activities in this chart don't exponentially increase your risk. By that I mean it's not an addition problem, if during the day you do something in the 2 category and then something in the 5 category, your risk for that day was 5 not 7 or that's how I see it. Your mileage might vary on that and that's okay. As expected I've received some push back on these rides but the way I see it if the government is willing to gamble with my life by not mandating work from home for any employee sitting at a desk working on a computer and at home schooling for all children, then I don't feel so bad enjoying some recreation with the same smaller group of friends that is on the lower end of the spectrum of activities. 





The Turkey Day Ride was started in 2010 by Nathan and Corey, I didn't start going until 2012, so the idea this year on the 10th anniversary was to retrace the original route.





Gravel was rolling super smooth and fast on Thursday, near freezing temps likely helped with that as it kept the roads a bit more firm than they might have been if it were much warmer. I did take some liberty with the route as it was chocked full of pavement, we still ended up with a pretty good chunk of it even after the modifications but the original route had over 20 miles of the 30ish mile loop being paved. What were the early adopters of the idea thinking, nobody rides road....


Of course the ride wouldn't be complete without a stop for a bridge beer, it's nice that the Lincolnites tend not to call the suicide hotline on you while you're resting atop the overpass like they tend to in Omaha. I'm not jumping, it spills the beer.


No matter what you chose to be in life, stay in school because even if you decide vandal as a chosen career path, spelling matters and Krylon doesn't come with an eraser.


Now that is a Christmas yard display, a person after my own heart.


Saw this caravan of folks outside the Matt Talbot kitchen and it's kind of humbling, especially when you stop and think about the things most of us complain about in this time of pandemic. Things can always be worse and we should take inventory of what we have in our lives that we take for granted and be thankful. If you've got a warm place to live, clean clothes and ample food in the fridge that's more than some folks have.







Amazingly we ended up in the same place we started some 38 miles later, almost like we planned it that way. We said our good byes, shared Happy Thanksgiving sentiments and dispersed to our corners of the world to finish out whatever Thanksgiving feasts we had planned.



Not having any plans for the rest of the day I decided to swing by the Zoo and check out the tree, it did not disappoint and it might have made my heart grow three sizes or it could have been the spicy jerky from earlier, whatever it was something made the heart do a few extra beats.

This might have been the first Thanksgiving in a long time I didn't have any of the traditional Turkey Day fare, no turkey, no stuffing, not a single cranberry; I polished off some left over pasta from earlier in the week and napped on and off in the easy chair watching 'Dem Boyz lose badly to the football team with no name and somehow those two teams playing to that outcome seemed perfectly fitting for the year that has been 2020. I'm not complaining however, I had a great ride with good friends, tasty food to fill my bell and a nice cozy chair to dream the day away in. As I said it could be worse.  Hope everyone got to find a little joy this Thanksgiving and got to do something or see someone who brings happiness to your life and into your heart.