Eve and I headed out at 9am last week for a ride. She's training for Kona and I'm training my ass to shrink. Not to mention, I used to do this thing called triathlon and I'd like to get back to it. In addition to that, my cross country season has officially begun and I just recently started training again after a longer than expected, post-surgery hiatus. No time like the present! Eve had a 6 hour ride and talked me into riding 3 with her although it had been almost a year since I'd ridden that long. But I figured if I can't keep pace for 3 hours with Eve when she has to ride 6, it's my problem. er, it became her problem pretty early on.
We headed out the side streets of the South Hill and ran into Haley coming back in from sending Katya out on a "pre-Canada spin". Haley seemed to think Eve and I could catch up with her. We could see her disk out in the distance. I told Eve we should catch her! Um, ya. Eve could have, she galloped with every push of her pedal while I felt like I was riding a big wheel with warn out plastic wheels. I was seeing stars two minutes into putting the "hammer down". Eve looked back at me at some point (probably wondering what that loud wheezing sound was) and had mercy on me. We didn't want to catch her anyway, duh. Stupid, really dumb idea.
Twenty minutes after the Katya chase, Eve dropped her chain which turned into a major mechanical and the two of us proceeded to take apart Eve's bike in the middle of a country road.
My trusty El Torito kept Eve company while I tamed the hunger beast and spat out suggestions on what she should try next.
Eve decided it was time to call "the man". After getting some technical assistance over the phone, Troy was on his way. Yes folks, the one and only Troy Nelson.
By the time he arrived with another bike, we were already riding again but Troy showed up with a back up bike and took the ailing machine to the bike doctor.
Eve tuned in to the fact that her riding partner not only was a little plumper since the last time we road together but quite a bit slower. We stopped at the chapel to pee and fill up our water bottles with the hose. As Eve was pulling a swift mount on the very steady pavement after riding her road bike through grass and gravel, she went down. As in, she was completely upright and just tipped over and hit the pavement. Now, THAT was the coolest thing I'd seen all day! She cut her elbow and sliced her leg, all with no forward speed. Eve, you are such a badass.
We made it to the next stop for cold water and a real bathroom so we could finally wash our faces and hands. We split off and Eve went on to ride a few more hours as I slowly pushed my wounded self home. Funny, considering Eve was the one who fell.
Since then, I have a ridden a few more times by myself. While riding with others in my state of fitness is humiliating and discouraging, it is WAY more entertaining and fun.
Anyone want to go for a ride?
We headed out the side streets of the South Hill and ran into Haley coming back in from sending Katya out on a "pre-Canada spin". Haley seemed to think Eve and I could catch up with her. We could see her disk out in the distance. I told Eve we should catch her! Um, ya. Eve could have, she galloped with every push of her pedal while I felt like I was riding a big wheel with warn out plastic wheels. I was seeing stars two minutes into putting the "hammer down". Eve looked back at me at some point (probably wondering what that loud wheezing sound was) and had mercy on me. We didn't want to catch her anyway, duh. Stupid, really dumb idea.
Twenty minutes after the Katya chase, Eve dropped her chain which turned into a major mechanical and the two of us proceeded to take apart Eve's bike in the middle of a country road.
My trusty El Torito kept Eve company while I tamed the hunger beast and spat out suggestions on what she should try next.
Eve decided it was time to call "the man". After getting some technical assistance over the phone, Troy was on his way. Yes folks, the one and only Troy Nelson.
Eve tuned in to the fact that her riding partner not only was a little plumper since the last time we road together but quite a bit slower. We stopped at the chapel to pee and fill up our water bottles with the hose. As Eve was pulling a swift mount on the very steady pavement after riding her road bike through grass and gravel, she went down. As in, she was completely upright and just tipped over and hit the pavement. Now, THAT was the coolest thing I'd seen all day! She cut her elbow and sliced her leg, all with no forward speed. Eve, you are such a badass.
We made it to the next stop for cold water and a real bathroom so we could finally wash our faces and hands. We split off and Eve went on to ride a few more hours as I slowly pushed my wounded self home. Funny, considering Eve was the one who fell.
Since then, I have a ridden a few more times by myself. While riding with others in my state of fitness is humiliating and discouraging, it is WAY more entertaining and fun.
Anyone want to go for a ride?
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5 comments:
Hysterical! You should just go hang out in front of Fitness Fanatics and wait for all the newbies to roll out with their first bike. "Um, hey, you wanna go for a ride? I can show you some really cool routes."
You'll get it back. Patience. The other "P."
Love you,
Get to see ya soon! Wish I could bring my bike so you can experience what it's like to drop someone again- Help ya get a little of your mojo back :)
S
I want to go for a ride! Sunday morning? 2.5-3 hr? Don't tell coach. . . .
Great ideas Shelby...hm, you sound like you have some experience with that? Is that how you always have so many friends to ride with?
You should argue with the flight attendant that you take up half the weight/room of a regular sized person so you should be able to bring your bike for free. It's actually a pretty sound argument if you think about it.
Coops, Sunday morning it is! And I think that Dan would agree that I'm just the person for you to be "riding" with a week after Canada. You pick the route, I'll bring the camera.
You did great for not riding much lately. I am diaster however. What would we have said if we'd caught Katya, "Hi we saw you riding and thought you might want to draft off us for a minute (chain ring off, trip, fall, pant sputter)! She would have sped off like she was being chased by a mugger.
You are great mechanic P. You taked me through it ane we fixed that damn bike, but we had to make Troy feel good after he drove all that way to save. More fun times ahead.
Love the image of you guys catching Katya, Eve! Hilarious! Phaedra, you gotta be careful who you complain about that ass to, girl. You'll get jumped by a gang of angry, hungry Weight Watchers one of these days. And helloooo? Here I am, right in front of your nose...if you want to feel fast, quit picking training partners like Eve and Haley, for pete sake.
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