Edwardsville-Roubaix

"I was having a hard time following the accelerations and I basically ran out of fuel. I just wasn't firing on all cylinders today. I didn't feel as good as I have been feeling prior to this race, so it's definitely a disappointment."

Cycling-superman Bob Lundt is far too modest. Yesterday's 300km Brevet proved a challenge with high winds for 111 miles south, but it was nothing that couldn't be overcome with a little intestinal fortitude. Uncle Bob and I rolled out of Edwardsville about ten minutes after six a.m. The weather seemed promising but the southerly winds beat up our legs so that it was a bit of slog working our way back north. It was, however, a good, hard effort that brought us home when other, lesser riders, would have packed it in. It was, looking back, another audacious performance by Bob.

In other news, I have been working hard on getting the butterfly garden of good and evil ready for this summer. Hopefully, I'll have some pictures up this week. It is really taking shape and the hardest part will be waiting for the bloom to arrive. So far I have dill, fennel, butterfly weed, liatris, russian sage, echinacia, rudebeckia, bee balm, cardinal flower, sunflower, iris, loosestrife, goldenrod and iris in place. If there are fewer butterflies at your place this summer, it will be because they're in my backyard.