I was on the road at 6:55 this morning to meet up with Rich at the Kitsuma parking lot at 7:15. Our plan for the day: HEARTBREAKER!!!! We were on the bikes at 7:30 and right away I was feeling the lack of big rides in the past few weeks. We climbed through ridgecrest and at the ballfields I thought, I think I can follow the hardest nine miles in town route from here, you know, as a change-up. We climbed the paved road of death
photo by Rich:
to Adventure trail and after a quick call to Mike B. to verify directions, and a quick photoshoot at the overlook we were on our way to the helipad.
From there the route was classic Heartbreak Ridge. On our way up Old Toll we talked about all sorts of things: Old friends, the bike industry, PMBAR, The Boy, proxy servers, cycling teams, new friends, bike parts.... and Rich kept a perfect 6 foot distance in front of me, no matter how fast or slow I could go at the moment. When I was feeling good it was like having a tractor-beam, or an adventure racing bungee, holding me to his rear wheel. Of course he could have pulled away at any instant but this was not one of those types of rides. It was casual, it was fun, we stopped and took photos of flowers:
and we took a lunch break at the overlook which came right on time for me.
My knees were hurting from the lack of fitness and the 60something degree temps and I hadn't had a bite to eat all day. I guess that's why that 'tractor-beam' feeling was suddenly starting to fade. Well, after the longish break I was feeling great again and Rich pulled me all the way to the trailers which were upon us before I expected them.
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