To add insult to injury, my dear wife not only suggested that I go for a ride, but that my two good friends—Kirby and Steve—had been continually posting to their Blogs about the riding they had been doing, even so far as going out in the RAIN! IN THE RAIN!! Now please bear in mind, I was never of the caliber of these two. Kirby has the "aw-shucks" ability to crush any climb and the patience to at least hang with me as I weeze up the Blue Ridge parkway on a 40 mile road ride. This is the same guy who easily mastered the hardest climb I know of—Oakville Grade— without losing breath. Steve has calves the size of basketballs and has been routinely entering PRO class cross races and winning. Both are good enough humans to let me tag along in the back as bear-fodder and to that I am proud.
So what the hell am I supposed to do? My bikes are clean (aren't they always). My cycling gear is somewhere in the unpacked phase of our new garage. And hell-the little lady did say I could go for a ride. After brushing off the Pringles from my 1995 Collegiate National MTB championships shirt (yes I actually did ride in this event and yes-I did come in second to last), I stumbled to the kitchen and began the preparation for the ride.
Step One:
Mix up water bottle with PowerBar "Endurance" Drink mix
Find clean bib shorts
Check weather-judge from slight chill that a long sleeve jersey is in order
Find socks
Assemble trail repair kit consisting of: CO2 inflator and 2 extra cartridges, patch kit, assorted tools, cell phone, money and old Clif bar (even if it expired in 1998, they still taste pretty good-coming up AND going down)
Step Two:
Slip uneasily into spandex that didn't use to stretch SO far
Stare at new larger belly in bathroom mirror and vow to not eat so much fast food-damn, I'm HUGE!
Make sure this really is OK with wife (my last out)
Step Three:
Choose bike (I'll use the Spider, I need gears today)
Check tire pressure, shock pressure, fork pressure, drivetrain (is my bottom bracket jacked up?)
Put on shoes and begin ride
Unlike Kirby-my singletrack is NOT right out of my back door, unless I poach Westwood Hills (another trip altogether), so I must brave the Escalades with Spinners, Excursions, Explorers with "Keep Tahoe Blue" bumper stickers (freakin' clueless idiots) and the Fast and the Furious crowd all racing 102hp Civics with wings built for Howard Hughes' sea plane on a cross town trip to Skyline.
I won't whine too much, I am trying to come to grips with this as a "new singletrack"-similar to our old days of late night "urban riding". So I'm ducking and dodging cars and traffic and nearing the actual dirt---The dirt! Did I mention we just went through 2 weekends of slight showers, the trails are PER-FECT!
I climbed. I cleaned technical sections. I noticed side to side play in my BB (what the hell-thing never did feel right) , and my lungs burned. Sorry I have no pictures of the trail, I have to use this as training for my next mountain bike ride next month, no time to stop and smell the flowers (plus I have to get home to play Thomas Trains with Jake). I ran into my old riding partner from Cal Poly-Ryan in the exact same spot I saw him last weekend, at exactly the same time! This time I took him up on his offer to head back up and do another loop. What the hell was I thinking!?
We race around the lake and back down to Lower Skyline trail. Both pushing each other in the old friendly way. It was a blast! I think I'll do this again in a few months!
Heading home I remembered my buddies Blogs and called my wife--I need proof that I rode!
"Take some shots of me riding home honey" I pant into the phone.
Cari obliges and as you can see below I am HELLA HARDCORE and ready for the next ride!
Hella Hardore NorCal StyleThanks Kirby and Steve for the inspiration, I miss riding near you guys!
3 comments:
Looking good Ken!!!! Is that the "Cold Steel" look i'm seeing?
The late night rides home from King were always fun! I will always have found memories of the trail above Nutter Butter. Remember when I saw Cari pull out of what I thought was going to be the most amazing cash. All I remember seeing was the bottom of her shoes and she looked like Superman! How she pulled it off I’ll have no idea. I’m glad to see you got out and did some riding. God knows the weather in Napa this time of year is perfect! Will get together and ride again real soon. Steve does have legs the size of tree trunks.
Actually I think that is the "Cold Alloy" look....although I cannot confirm that.
Good to see that you got out to ride the MTB. One of these weekends I'll have to come down and ride your trails. I will try not to bring down any GRAVE DIGGER or MISTER FISTER 4x4 truck action traffic with me.
Kirby - the only reason why I pulled out of that near-crash was I visualized myself on the cover of Mountain Bike Magazine, all Nor-Cal hardcore like my husband! Man, that was close.
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