Stupid Little Circles

 

The Third First Annual Ladd's 500 did not disappoint.  Over a hundred rider/racer/relayers showed up to ride 100 miles of circles.

James, Justin and I formed the Steens Mazama 1000 Reunion Team, or SM1KRT (pronounced "smirked").  Just like last year, we used jelly beans to count laps, and I noticed at least two other teams also using candy to make counting easy and delicious.

 

Team SillyCones set up next to us and were tons of fun to compete with. In addition to using giant cones to mark their picnic territory, they wore little cones on their heads like orange unicorns.  My team wore sashes, which I made to tell the story of our Steens Mazama 1000 adventure.  There was a strip of blue cloudy sky, some jungle, a map, bright orange to represent the pylon Justin carried, and some numbered sheep.

 

The fun part of riding 167 laps of circles is that you stay together.  Finally a no drop ride everyone can keep up with!  During a rest break, someone came up to me and told me there'd been complaints I was riding too fast.  I thought he was serious until I turned and saw his smirking face.

 

A little girl who did laps on a unicycle, skateboard and balance ball won "Best in Show" and boy did she deserve it.  Her smile and everyone's cheers lit up all of Ladd's Addition.