People Are AMAZING!!!!!

OK, So I haven't written in a while, and I have a couple stories to tell. I will break them up though. I don't know about you guys, but my attention span is not that long, and I wouldn't sit and read a really long blog post, unless it was mostly pictures. So for this post, I will tell you what happened to Dana and I after our ride and picnic at Lake Del Valle last weekend (the weekend before 4th of July weekend).

So the team went out to Lake Del Valle and we had a nice hot ride in the burning sun, mostly up hill:

Something a little disappointing happened on the ride. These stupid guys in a white truck drove past all of us and threw oranges and orange peels at us. 5 of us were hit, and even though no one was seriously hurt, it just made me think poorly of people...but that was soon to change.

After the ride, and a fun picnic with the team, Dana and I packed up our gear and bikes and drove home. We were on the 580 West and I kept looking out the rear view mirror and the bikes were kind of bouncing around on the bike rack. I was driving kind of carefully...apparently Dana just thought I was tired, but I was thinking that I didn't want to pull over and we could probably make it back to Berkeley and then I could tighten the rack when I got to Dana's.

Then I realized I was being kind of stupid, it wouldn't take that long to pull off the freeway and tighten the rack, so why was I risking it? So we pulled off and parked and got out of the car. I went to tighten the strap, and it snapped! Snapped right off and the bike rack fell half way off the car! We were just sitting there staring at the rack with the bikes dangling from it, and I was thinking how lucky we were that it hadn't snapped off on the freeway. Then we were just sitting there looking at the bikes and wondering how we were going to get them home. My small mini cooper was already packed with all of our gear, and even when it is empty I can hardly fit one bike in it, let alone two.

But we didn't have to ponder our dilemma for long. About 2 minutes later, a guy rolls up on his bike and asks us what's wrong. We told him that we were fine, but my bike rack broke and we were just trying to figure out how to get the bikes back to Berkeley. He says it's no problem, and calls his son who apparently has a big jeep and asks him to come meet us. His son then drops what he is doing and drives to Castro Valley and puts Dana's bike in his jeep and then follows us to Berkeley to drop it off! I was overwhelmed with Randy and his son's generosity, and they restored my faith in the kindness of people. Now I just have one dilemma, Dana and I want to thank Randy and his son, but we are unsure of what would be a really good thank you gift. Any suggestions?