the passing of the torch.......

ok, so it is not quite the passing of the torch.....it is more like the passing off of a legendary running/biking event.....the pound and pedal, held annually the saturday of labor day weekend.....will neither start nor finish just outside our front gate this year.......it is moving further afield...and to a younger couple with a huge yard and a pool.......pretty good location for morning event that sometimes morphs into the afternoon and evening.....or so it did when we (collectively) were younger.....it started 20 or so years ago as a 20 mile team thing.....from our friend mark's law office to his house way out in the country......you and a partner shared a bike.....and when you were running the partner biked, and viceversa.......and both partners had to be finished before their time was recorded....got it?.......we had a potluck afterwards...and when the host invested in a hot tub....they moved to town about 10 years ago....and we have hosted the event ever since........but now that our (collective older runners/bikers/walkers) children have either grown, or have multiple activities, or we have tickets to college football games....or have children to take to college.......us old-timers need to move aside and allow the young whipper-snappers with no children or babes in playpens to take over.......i was pondering all of this as i watered my remaining plants at 6:30 am.....how the summer heat had usually baked my garden to a crisp by the last weekend of summer......and how we really needed to come up with a memorial day weekend event.......for selfish reasons......the garden looks like an earthly paradise about then.........yeah......we host book club for dinner in february every year....but it is dark and snowy then.......what we need is a bike/run concept that is adaptable to late may/early june that will neither interfere with the end of school, nor the state track meet.......nor band festival......hmmm.....must be something......