Way back in ancient history (maybe 18 years ago), Michigan Gary organized a Wednesday ride in our Oregon area. When he returned to Michigan, I took over the organization of the ride. Being a want-to-be-Italian, I renamed it Giro del Mercoledì (Wednesday Ride). Every week we did a 40-60 mile ride, mostly in Washington County, Oregon but occasionally branching out to rides a little further away. Hood River, Larch Mountain, Cannon Beach, etc…
One regular attendee liked the ride so much that he organized a special jersey buy from the Cuore cycling attire company. That is the blue Giro del Mercoledì jersey that you will occasionally see on these rides. The underside of the right back pocket has the image of Madonna del Ghisallo, the patroness of cycling, to protect us from harm..
A few years ago, we started wintering in Tucson, so I decided to also organize a Wednesday Ride here. So Giro del Mercoledì occurs in Oregon in the Summer, and Tucson in the Winter. That was also the time when the red Giro del Mercoledì jerseys came into existence. (Blue for cooler Oregon, red for warmer Tucson but also protected by Madonna del Ghisallo ;<)..
Giro del Mercoledì was never under a club umbrella and hence we never were covered by any insurance, other than our own individual policies. (And we were extremely lucky, never having an accident during that entire time.) … But Giro del Mercoledì changed a few weeks ago. The ride is now an official Tucson Velo ride and will be our regular Wednesday Ride…
Hope to see you out there joining us,
Jeff Buck
