Tiptoe through the Tulips with Team Mang

The invasion continues as Mangers and Alings traveled north to Skagit county to participate in the annual Tulip Pedal Bicycle Classic on Saturday, April 19.  The event is part of the county's Tulip Festival and features several options of lengths for rides around the tulip fields.  Most of the ride is flat but man...those winds!

Mangers with their "adopted riders"

As with any ride we participate in, there was no shortage of laughs, clowning around and making every situation as fun as we can make it. Don't get us wrong, the ride was actually brutal - most of the riders did the 60 mile ride but with the headwinds constantly pushing against you, that 60 could have easily been 80 with hills!

Mang Raf put it this way, "It was a beautiful route what with all the flowers - planted or cycling - around. The relatively flat terrain was made brutally hilly by the harsh headwinds which at times would turn, naughtily it seemed, to side winds that tried to knock us off our balance. The brief time that it turned to tailwind was a welcome downhill pedaling. Good thing the rain was intermittent with probably a total of just 5 minutes of "daan lang yan" (passing through) rain. "

Mangers clowning around in public...I really dunno
what they're doing...

That Saturday didn't give the region much to celebrate in terms of good weather - most riders were drenched that day but the heavens spared the team and only gave up a few sprinkles in northern Washington during the ride. Special mention goes to Joji's wife, Christine, who used this opportunity to do her first official ride - it's always good news to find out we've got a new (Team) Aling!

The riotous group even attracted the attention of a couple of lady cyclists, Julie and Amber, (see the picture above) who hung out with the crew and wanted to join up for future rides.  Of course, we never got their contact information (if you two ladies are reading this, please contact us again)!  Like we always say, riders of all types are welcome in the "team"...nah, we're not really a team, we're more like a family. Team Mang and Team Aling - always synonymous with a fun time bicycling with friends!