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
So what you’re saying is you’ll spend all this time getting worked up about this race and then we’ll sit out front and the riders will whizz by and it will all be over in about ten minutes No Well yes For a moment Jace was stunned by his friends lack of interest Sort of but it’s so much more than that In Europe people camp out for days just to get a glimpse of the big races We get to have one pass by right out front His friends stared at him in silence still waiting to be convinced Jace muttered Oh just wait and see Then you’ll understand
CHAPTER TWO After Jace gave up on turning his friends into cycling fans and went back to his card game with Rowan Astrid and Quinn snuck out They cut through the kitchen on their way upstairs to the apartment the Vegas lived in above the diner The girls were in the midst of hatching a very important plan and wanted to find someplace private to discuss the details Mrs Vega was in the office doing paperwork as the girls walked by Hey she called How were the deliveries Is Miss Coco doing okay Mrs Coretta Lownie or Miss Coco as she was known was the oldest living resident of Somerville
