Saturday, January 1, 2011

Chili Challenge, 2011

Another New Year's Day and another Chili Challenge ride, sponsored by the 3 Rivers Velo Sport Club and the Fort Wayne City Parks Department. We met at 1:00pm, just north of downtown, and rode to the west, then north.


We stopped by Johnny Appleseed Park for the annual Polar Bear swim. At swim time the temp had dropped to the low 30's. This was much warmer than last year's swim. My daughter, Georgia, swam this year with the Polar Bears, but she swam at 12:00 noon. We arrived here for the 2:00pm dunking. I don't know why they have 2 different swims.


That water's gotta be damn cold! Crazy nuts!


I don't know how many cyclists rode this year, but it was a large number. We overwhelmed the city streets, and it was great! I learned a few years ago to stay at the front of the pack. With numerous traffic lights the bike crowd gets split into many groups, and once separated from the lead group, it is impossible to stay on the route. There are so many turns that the street map provided by the club is not very helpful.

I hope all of you folks were able to get out and ride today, or at least thought about riding.

Happy New Year!

12 comments:

TrevorW�� said...

A Happy New Year to you too.
That looks a really good and well attended event - thanks for sharing.

Jon said...

Looks like that ride was definitely more of a draw than mine!

Happy New Year, to you and yours, Bill!

Steve A said...

Is the name because of the food at the conclusion of the event or because it is generally "chilly" outside?

Big Oak said...

Steve, good question. The answer is yes. Not only is it chilly, but there were many crocks of chili at the finish. I wonder if they do something similar to this in Chile? :)

Anonymous said...

Nice post. I also enjoyed the one for the final 2010 ride. Regarding Chile, my dad was born there and I have some pics of him on his bike (such big tires!) with other cyclists on a church outing/trip. All the best for 2011, Ron

John Romeo Alpha said...

I thought maybe some Canadians would show up and say, you could catch a chill, eh?

Big Oak said...

JRA - Ha!

jeff said...

Great way to start 2011. And I'm glad when you stopped by JA Park it was just to "watch" and not jump in.

Apertome said...

Wow, what a turnout! Looks like a lot of fun. Happy new year! (yes, I'm late, but better late than never, right?)

Big Oak said...

Michael,

Happy New Year to you too! I'm not sure if you're ever late to reply to a blog, especially with the time period between my posts!

Steve A said...

I can just imagine - at the "Chilly Chile" chili crock station, a Canadian is overheard to say, "chill, eh?"

Oh no, the "capcha" for this comment is below, fully capchaing the spirit of this comment

[chealiat]

Big Oak said...

Wow, Steve. I don't know what to say, other than you've got it!