Bon Jeudi!

Bon Jeudi ... or "Happy Thursday"!  Last night we joined a bicycle ride along the lakefront that our friends Jeff and Amy put together.  Jeff has been a friend of ours since high school, and he orchestrated the French Quarter bicycle ride when one of our friends passed away.  He and his fiancee, Amy, formed a group called the Bon Jeudi Social Bike Ride a couple of months ago, and every Thursday anyone is welcome to join the fun.  The group is getting larger every week, and I think we'll be making this ride pretty often now that we've finally experienced it ... and since Jeff has extra bikes for us to ride.  Lots of fun!

After meeting at a local pizza place on the lakefront we all followed our leader, Jeff.  He lead the way on his bike, which pulls a small trailer loaded with an ice chest full of beer and another chest full of tools for the bikes. His bike has a little speaker on the back to blast some tunes from his phone ... we're set!

People of all ages, sizes and personalities make up the group.  It was fun to meet new people and ride the streets of  Mandeville, while shouting "Happy Thursday" to the folks we passed by.  Some people were interested in what we were doing, and cards were passed out so they could join next time.  I overheard one lady say to her husband, "We gotta buy some bikes"!  

We stopped to watch the sunset ... at Sunset Point!  

As the sun set the lights on the bikes created their own show.  The picture below was taken at a previous Bon Jeudi ride ... love it!

The bike lights weren't only pretty, but became a necessity when we rode along the bike path made from an old railroad track called "The Trace".  Other than the lights on our bikes, it was pitch black!  Pretty cool to ride on a narrow path in the middle of trees with nothing but spinning neon lights.

We made a couple of stops along the two-hour ride, including a local bar called "Ruby's Roadhouse".  Lots of memories from that place!  We ended the night back on the lakefront ... notice the marina in the background.  The guy with the hat, white shirt and trailer behind his bike ... our friend and leader, Jeff.  (These pictures were also taken from a different Bon Jeudi ride.  If I had taken them ... same picture, different clothes).  As it turned out, both chests on his trailer were handy that night.  The beer was consumed and the tools were pulled out a couple of times ... one woman's handlebars came loose and Jeff had a flat tire ... on the trailer.  No worries ... he had his tools!

Here's a short little video taken by one of the folks of us biking at night ... yep, in circles.

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!