Jake joined me for some of Pizza ride. We met at Stanley Lane, had donut, coffee and juice and hustled (thanks Grayson) to try to stick with group.
Out Coombsville to Avenues, we got dropped...
No worries-we chilled, looked for sallys and headed toward Atlas Peak...
Started climb up Atlas Peak, made it to just past Pet Cemetary. Kicked it on the side of the road checking out the scene, a waterfall and munching on Clif product...
Headed down for good speedy time and back across town to get some lunch and chill...
Cali is on fire and we are again under smokey skies.
It is pretty crazy to not see blue sky for a week at a time. It's even hard to see the hills a few miles away during the day.
Pretty crazy though, as I was getting ready for work around 7AM the other day, I looked out my window and was not only able to look directly at the orange sky and sun, but saw a determined hot air balloon enjoying significantly unhealthy air quality. I could just see some tourist saying, "I'll be damned if I am not going up in a Hot Air Balloon on my trip to Napa Valley!"
Guess I am not so smart either-I keep riding in the smoke too.
So, where to begin? Cari and I were signed up to do the 100 mile portion of the Tour De Cure this year. We raised money (thanks to all who donated), we didn't train, we were ready. Last night we were ready. Alarm clocks set for 6:00AM ready. Woke up, looked outside, saw the trees practically leaning sideways from the wind, and I knew we weren't ready. Maybe ready wasn't the right word---more like unwilling to brave teh wind. And that is the story of how we began our ride 50 mile ride in this year's Tour De Cure.
50's better anyway. Cari had new cranks, hadn't ridden in a few weeks and I just was not about to brave Napa's infamous BOTH direction (going and returning usually) headwind for 100 miles. Funny thing, when you mentally prepare for 100 miles all the way up top the last minute, then switch to a ride half as long, it hella™ easy!
Cari cruising through Yountville at 8:30AM...
So there we were at the last rest stop (free sport beans were the draw) with Cari all antsy to get back on the road and finish the last 12 miles. we hop onto Silverado Trail and a whole group of Gold's Gym jersey wearing riders are blocking the bike lane. Now this is typical maneuvers for these group rides, your life is in your hand when it come to some of teh pace lines, passing and riding I have seen (and luckily avoided). But this was different. As Cari was dropping the hammer as we passed, I noticed a yellow jersey in amoungst the group and a very recognizable face-Greg Lemond!
I screamed like a little bitch (the only way I know how) to Cari to stop! Greg Lemond was back there. We pulled over about 100 yards away and waited. Should we go back? Maybe we can ride with him on the way back? Let's wait...OK- let's roll, we'll see him at the finish. See him we did too!
As we rounded the uphill in the Veteren's Home, I caught sight of him again, heading for his car. Only 2 cyclists stood in our way and I was damn sure gonna get a picture with him. We rolled up as he was signing one of their bikes and stood there like a couple of grinning idiots. Before we could ask, Greg politely said thanks for everything and he was sorry he couldn't stay, but he had to get to Stanford ASAP. We respected his urgency and still stood there like a couple of grinning idiots, jaws agape. Needless to say I had Cari capture my look of "Greg-ness" and I took a picture of hers and tonight I photoshopped (In the worst way possible) what we might have looked like in photos with the man.
Here's how I looked while we waited to find something to say to Greg Lemond...
Here's how Cari looked...
Here's an artist rendition of what Greg and I might have looked like if we had our photo taken...
Later on, Jake wanted to ride his bike at Alston, so hell yeah we went. I was a little worried about the dirt, seeing as Jake is a bit unsteady on the ultra skinny/smooth tires of the Redline. But the boy took to dirt like a duck to water! Shot a little video as we rolled along. My eyes popped out of my head on a little downhill though. I was behind him and he started to pick up speed and was not using his hand brake to slow down. I'm pedalling to catch him telling him "Grab the brake!", "Slow Down", to which he replied , "I can't". This left no other option but abail out. I told him to point into the tall grass and bail and he did! He flew off his bike and tumbled into the grass landing facing up and with a smile (almost). Then the tears came (mostly out of being overwhelmed and a bit from hitting the jewels on the top tube in mid-bail) but soon went as we laughed about his bail and I re-affirmed to him the need for control and brakes...
Jake and Cari take in the trails at Alston...
Overall it was a great weekend and we look forward to many more!
