Special Memorial Ride

It was only eight miles, but it was a very important eight miles.

Today, on a chilly Sunday early afternoon, I pulled on a lot of layers of riding clothes to go out into sunny but only 46-degree weather to take part in a memorial ride.

The owner of my bike shop, Cranked Bike Studio in Neenah, Steve Pratt lost his brother way too soon a few months back. If you do not know the story, you can look it up, but Steve and "Billy" go way back together in my community...not just the bike community, but the community in general.

Due to the pandemic, a special service was delayed until today. Billy had requested a ride be done in his honor, and that was accomplished today.

Perhaps I will be able to update this post at a later time to include some pictures from the ride. But as people came out of the funeral home there were bikes everywhere in the parking lot.

Billy wanted a ride and that's what he got, with Steve leading the group out for a few slow miles together as a group. I rode in slow, silent reflection.

I can only imagine what it meant to Steve "Pratter" to see all those people there because of the memory of his brother, a man I never even actually met at the shop. But when I read about the ride, I knew I had to make time and damn the cold to head out and ride in support of my guy Pratter and his shop, a group that has always looked out for me in my cycling adventures in the Fox Valley.

All tailwind to ya Billy.

2021 OUTDOOR RIDE ROUTE-- Cranked Memorial Ride MILES-- 8 AVE. SPEED-- n/a WEATHER-- Sunny, Cool, 46, Wind 5-10 TOTAL OUTDOOR MILES 2021 SEASON-- 346.0 .....................