Aebleskiver Ride Recap

Although not nearly as many stories as last year, this year's Aebleskiver Ride was definitely a success and tons of fun. It didn't necessarily start out that way however. Craig D. and I were planning a 5:30 meeting at Bunyan's on the edge of Vermillion so we could get a quick 10-15 miles in before catching the rest of the group. Problem was, it was a little dark leaving home. I rolled out and was only about a half mile from home on main street when I seen something on the road, but it was too late. BOOM! Front tire was flat in a heartbeat. I called Craig to tell him to wait to see if anybody else was going to show up and if they didn't to head to my house as I was going to walk my bike home and change my flat.

On the way back through the "crime scene", I was more than upset at some juvenile behavior. Somebody, or more likely a group of somebodies, broke what appeared to be 6-8 beer bottles all over the road along with a few eggs in the mix for good measure. I contacted the police department to let them know about the mess on the road so other didn't endure my fate.

I got home and went about fixing my flat. I went in and got a new tube and put it in. Craig was helping me pump it up when BLAM! the damn thing blew up inches from each of our ears. Even though I had felt the inside of the tire before putting in the new tube, I had missed the fact there was a huge hole in my sidewall. I am guessing that the tube went through the sidewall, enlarged and pinched and the impending BLAM then took place.

Now I was upset. Stupid juvenile behavior had now cost me 2 tubes and a fairly new front tire. I am now out about $38 due to jerks (yeah, I wanted to use stronger words, but I like my blog to be a PG rated blog). I grabbed the front wheel from my other wheel set and away we went on a "shortened" version of our initial ride plans.

After a quick "airport loop", we were about to head north when we seen a couple of cyclist heading our way. I told Craig that while they were coming I was going to grab a snack at Pump N Pak. When I came out, Caitlin and Cathy F. were preparing to roll north on their hybrids to give the ride a go. Craig and I left and rolled north with a nice push from a SE wind. We maintained 22 without much effort at all. We caught Angie W. just short of the 7 mile corner (7 from Wakonda, 7 from Centerville). As we hit 7 mile corner, Chad P. from Alcester was rolling in from the West. We waited a few minutes and Craig and I went to meet the rest of the riders coming from Wakonda. We only had to go a mile before we seen them coming up the hill. After waiting a couple more minutes, Kwen S. rolled in from Hub City and away we went to Centerville.

In Centerville we picked up 3 Beresford-ites and continued to on to Viborg as we had Aebleskiver on the brain at this point. Still having a nice tail wind, the trip to Viborg was a quick one. Then the scary moment: As we were pulling up to the Methodist Church, the ambulance was carrying an older lady out on a stretcher. Could it be Aebleskiver poisoning? After the smoke cleared, we decided to take our chances! Ah yes, it was as delicious as we can remember! Don't ask me why it's so good. It's basically "pancake balls" and I'm not a real pancake fan. But for some reason, these are REALLY good. Below you will notice my plate is already Aebleskiver-free as I mowed through them rather quickly.



Below is a photo of "most" of the rollers who went along on the ride. Kwen, Cathy, Caitlin were not in yet and Kary G. mysteriously managed to stay out of the photo.



We went West out of Viborg until we turned South to go to Irene and that is when the nice tailwind that we had, now became our unfriendly nemesis. We had to battle it six miles south to Irene and then another five south until we turned West towards Wakonda.

It was all worthwhile though as when we hit Cathy's house there was Summer Shandy on ice and turkey brats in the roaster. That, along with some awesome salsa and "Mexican Caviar" made all the hurt from pounding into the wind go away.

I was pretty convinced that I was riding back to Vermillion. So much so that I even told Holly S. that I would. She took off ahead of me and was expecting me to catch her. Problem was, we kept talking and talking, and eating, and pretty soon I didn't want to ride. I felt guilty. So guilty that I took a different route back to Vermillion so I didn't have to pass her in the Ford Deathstar (she figured out I wussed out anyway!).

Another great Aebleskiver adventure complete. It is definitely an annual event now. The legend grows....