[jd3]

Friday night. Tour de Grizz.
The Memphis Grizzlies held a go green night. As part of their go green initiative the put on a bike ride to the Friday night game. They offered really cheap tickets and a police escort for the 5-mile ride to the FedEx Forum for the game. We rode from another LBS to the start point of the ride to meet with the group. A fair crowd showed up and we rode through midtown to the Forum. They told us about he police escort, but no one said anything about a blimp. Once the police and the blimp delivered us safely to the Forum, Grizz meet us for the final entry to the game. Grizz led us around the Forum where we entered and parked our bikes in the lobby.
As part of the go green night there were several green organizations that had displays set up. The Grizzlies played the Dallas Mavericks. The game was close all night and the Grizz actually won for a change. After the game, we had another police escort back to the start point. This was a wonderful evening and I hope they do it again next year.

 

[jd3]

Saturday morning. Tour de Spring.
Saturday morning was perfect riding weather. Four of us took a 40-mile cruise downtown and back. One of the guys is about to make an offer on a house in Harbor Town, which is on Mud Island in the Mississippi River. He wanted to show it to us, so that’s where we went. As nice as the weather was, there was a strong ESE wind. Our route downtown was west and north. We picked one which was exposed to the wind and rarely dropped below 20mph for 25miles. As we arrived at the house, his potential new neighbor was unloading his bikes after a ride. We introduced ourselves, had a look at the house and rode on down to the local island hangout for a mid-ride break.

 

[jd3]

We knew we had a strong head wind to face on the way home. We picked a route through town that was a bit protected. The ride home turned into a sight seeing and photo tour of Memphis in spring. We left the island and cruised through downtown past Beal St. and FedEx Forum (wasn’t I just here). From there it was back through the dogwoods and home. If all my rides were like the last two days, I’d be a happy man.

 

[jd3]

Edit: After being away from the family Friday night and most of the day Saturday, I thought I’d take the dogs to the dog park. Nice end to a nice day. It looks like it’s going to rain Sunday

 

[T-shirt]

Great thread jd3, highly enjoyable. The shots of the Spring foliage give me, a Notherner, something to look forward to.

 

[clonechemist]

Gorgeous. Your pictures make Memphis look a whole lot more attractive than my mind's-eye version of the place.

 

[HokieRider]

Wow. I had a total brain fart and was going to ask you where you were, when I realized, "duh, Memphis Grizzlys".

Man, you make Memphis look good. Nice shots all around.

 

[MB1]

Spring, ah spring.

Can't wait till it arrives in DC. Maybe by August...........

 

[vanjr]

The wisteria and azeleas look awesome.

 

[Ridgetop]

Looks like a lot of fun and I love the flowers.

 

[jd3]

Thanks for all the nice comments. One of these days I'll post the other side of Memphis. It's not that I'm scared to ride there. I ride there all the time. I'm just scared to slow down enough to take pictures.