Massive Fun Ride

I felt really ill last night. And of course I was bummed, thinking I wouldn’t be able to ride today. ;(

Then, this morning, waking up, there was this weird buzz in my legs, they just couldn’t wait to spin. I waited till nine, swung onto Ti (after pumping up the rear tire – somehow I must have done a really poor patch job last week) and started riding.
There was a bit of immune reaction I could feel. My knees were ‘grindy’, as if something was swollen and I had a little hard time kicking up the hill. But by the time I reached Page Mill, everything was fine. By then, I had greeted four major teams on the opposite side (LGBRC, Alto Velo, no-name mix and Phoenix Tech.) and was determined to go up Canada, since Skyline was foggy.

I get there, but it is really cold – the Ralston Gap is letting torrents of fog in, and I turn around. I get back in time for a nice breakfast (Clif Bar and nuts), greet Monta Vista (twenty of them in team uniform – what a sight!) and ride back. A group of really nice people in front of me, half of them decide to turn right on Sand Hill, the other half turns left shouting: “We are going home!” to the rest.

They were fast! I passed them on the way up because they were catching up with each other, but by the time I was down at Foothill, they had caught up with me and passed me on the right turn. A short guy in yellow jersey, a medium-sized skinny guy in blue-green with a Calfee and a huge triathlete with a really odd-looking flat-tubed racer.

I trailed behind them, and they were just about the most wonderful bikers I have ever followed. They were extremely respectful of each other, of other riders – even of me. They tried to include me in their rotation, but I felt a little too slow for them. I wished all bikers were like that!

(Instead of some other club whose initials are AV whose members think they bought Foothill at the last auction on eBay, and that it’s ok to pass someone downhill just to slow him down to a halt uphill…)