Rowan did some quick counting and frowned when he realized Jace was right It’s 20 to 19 he said Let’s play again Rowan began shuffling the cards anxious to tie up the score Chester Feeney the longtime mechanic at Earl’s Gas was sitting near the boys and chuckled at their banter As Rowan began passing out the cards Chester went back to reading his Somerville Gazette Somerville wasn’t big enough to have its own daily newspaper and most people received the Ledger from nearby Watertown instead The Gazette was for local news only and came out every two weeks Despite the fact that most of its news was well known by the time it came out most locals enjoyed reading the paper Well look at that Chester said showing the boys the front page A bike race is going to come through Somerville
Really Jace asked excitedly as he set down his cards A real race Which one Jace was a big fan of professional cycling and followed the many races that took place around the world Having traveled quite a bit with his parents before they were forced into hiding Jace had attended several major races including the Giro d Italia and the Tour de France He was such a fan he even followed the smaller regional races Chester scanned the article again and told Jace Says here it’s the Tour Across the Land No way Jace had abandoned the card game altogether and walked over to Chester to get a better look at the paper That’s an epic race It’s crazy hard The Tour Across the Land was a long-distance bike race that started in Washington D C and finished three thousand miles away in California
It was a grueling race in which cyclists rode close to one hundred miles each day often through steep mountain ranges Chester went back to the article Says here that this stage starts thirty miles down Highway 84 and will come through Somerville and ride over the mountains before ending up in Watertown That’s no small task Some of those mountains are treacherous with all the twists and turns in the road Sounds exciting Chester handed the paper to Jace who read and reread the article Can you believe it Rowan who had been re-counting the tallies on their score sheet to make sure the totals were correct looked up Huh What’s that Were you even listening Jace was exasperated A super-cool bike race is coming through town in less than two weeks They’ll be riding right in front of the diner
Who’ll be riding in front of the diner Astrid asked as she and Quinn walked through the front door The two words that best described Astrid were nosy and dramatic These two traits often came together when she felt she was being kept out of the loop about something Having just returned from delivering boxed lunches she seemed to be in a particularly nosy mood Tons of famous cyclists Jace beamed I wonder what teams will be riding Quinn ran her hand through her hair as she glanced at the article It’s a bike race she asked Not just any bike race Jace replied He began explaining the skills and training involved in a race of this magnitude but before he could get very far Astrid interrupted him
