Thursday 23 August 2007

The Lost Boys Dinner

The Badger, the Cannibal, Young Jeff, Dr. Chef--what? no Spandex?

On Monday, the Lost Boys, so named for their propensity to ride in the wrong direction, met for a farewell dinner at the hyper-trendy Belgian restaurant Brasserie Beck in Washington. The event was, sadly, a farewell for me since I am on the verge of departing DC to return to the Great White North.

At my suggestion, we met at Beck to drink a lot of serious beer and maybe eat something. To my surprise and delight, we were joined by Ralph the Badger, who presently resides in Colorado Springs and is recovering from a broken hip that prevented him from joining us in Alsace. Dr. Chef was there and Young Jeff too.

Dr. Chef and Young Jeff, with the "artistic" wine

The beer and reminiscences flowed liberally, and there were frites a' plenty. The Boys were generous and, besides treating me to dinner, gave me some cold weather cycling gear for Ottawa--as tested in the mountains of Colorado--, a package of Tom Danielson go-fast coffee and a copy of the Pro Cycling Manager computer game, which I have heard is brutally addictive and which I cannot wait to install on my new laptop. I, in turn, provided some excellent red wine featuring an excellent Art Nouveau label: a bicycle and a nude woman. As it should be. Cycles Gladiator Wine is a new California label in an old style, with bicycle connections by team sponsorship and events.

We have known each other since 2003 and we have had some great times discovering the Mid-Atlantic backroads. Dr. Chef has come with me to Europe twice and I have gone to Colorado to ride with the Badger. We hope next year we will all finally get together on one fantastic trip: perhaps La Route des Grands Alps. Before then I am hoping they will join me for the Rideau Lakes Tour in June in Ottawa, riding 350 km in one weekend. Of course the irony is is that the Badger is about to move back to the DC area even as I leave!

Good riders all, and a great bunch of guys.

1 comment:

Will said...

Hi Leslie,

Good luck moving. I cycled the Gruyere Cycling Tour yesterday with an Ottawa friend - now living in Geneva - that was wearing a Rideau Lakes Tour shirt.

Sounds like a challenging ride. I'll have to one day pretend to be visiting my brother in Ottawa so I can ride this beast.