Saturday

The day I rode. Picked out by the day of my riding needs. I ride to my own schedule. The calendar I keep. A sunny day at last. There has been one other. Maybe 2. It was to be a easy 40 miler. As the last was a 70 miler. Got to think these miles through. The body is old and needs it's rest. The ride was on the same courses I ride thousands of miles. Only a few times have I ridden with anyone. I like the road to myself. The thinking time. Time to just not think at all. I have been pasted twice since September 07. Those times I could not keep up. All the other times I caught right back up and chatted. Well not to all. There are some who just won't look. Some I just pass and never look back as I power away from their cold.
This Saturday ride was the same as always. More traffic than normal. It's the high season here on the Island. All the summer folks are here. All the prices for everything went up June first. Traffic went up with them. The roads I ride for the most part are still quiet. Just 2 are a lot busier. Both have wide shoulders to support the riding public. So it's not to bad. This ride was like most. Easy gears, but on the #1 bike for the first time in weeks. Using the 53X39 chain rings. Stiffer high end, a bit faster. The low end a little stiffer to. Not so kind on the steep climbs. Hard work is good. All the friendly and not so friendly roads. Only hard roads. Those are the less friendly roads on some days. Saturday's ride was just about what I expected. A few more riders going the other way. Mostly tourist riders. A lot of folks ride through this Island on their way to the San Juan Islands. All had gone well. I was drinking my drinks on time. I had a fair amount of food in me. The ride was good. So after 8 tough hills I was looking forward to the last real hill on Bayview road coming out of Langley. It's a hill not a mountain. Though it still must be climbed within a riders pace. I was going up at a nice pace. Not so fast as steady. 39X15 if that means anything. 12 miles an hour. I've gone faster and slower. So I was just climbing this last hill in the middle of my effort. It was a good steady climb after 8 hard climbs. Almost at the top a rider passes me. The "how ya doing" kind of guy as he motors past you. He was in the big chain ring and had been working his ass off to catch me. I was in the small chain ring. It was a bit rude on the other riders part. No chat, just trying to leave me behind. I'm old and a lot slower than I once was, but that was it. I added 2 gears to my pace as we were near the top of the hill. Just a little bit before the down hill started. Steep down hill!! This guy was a stick. No meat on his bones at all. Must have been a vegetarian. As we neared the top we were together. He was working so hard he was going all over the road. I was just keeping my line waiting for gravity. The top came. The interluder was out in the middle of the road, on a road with 5' bike shoulders. He was riding like a fool. I had enough of him. Gravity is my friend at 215 pounds. I was now in 53X12, all the go fast gear I had. With almost no effort I put gravity to work for me and dropped this fool like he was going the other way. Got in a nice aerodynamic tuck and the speed got to 50 MPH. At the bottom there is a long shallow down hill. Just enough to keep some real speed on. By this time the skinny guy was still on the hill some where. I started the push into Bayview Corners. A push at 30 MPH for the first mile then down to 25MPH for the last 3 miles to the stop sign at Bayview Corners. I looked back. No one in sight. I eased off as that effort was taking a bit of a toll on me. It was 2 miles to home. I was on my cool down. Crossed SR525 still on Bayview. Going up a little hill just past SR525 a rider passes me! I thought it was the veggie. It was a new rider. So I just suffered to the top. He was in easy reach. I motored up to him. No, "how ya doing" from me. I just eased up side by side and started a conversation. Etiquette on the road has a few rules. After all we are not racing for real. Just out training. Well, winning "The Tour" to. So both of us started talking. His name was David as mine is. He was new to the area. He did not work. He was a bike bum just like me in many ways. Now how would I have known that with out talking to the guy? There are a few small risers on the road home. I just stay in a big gear and over come them. I do it every time. As I went up one David feel a little behind, then caught back up. The next was the same only he fell a little further back. Hey, I was pushing it a bit to measure this new rider. So we had a nice short ride till I had to turn for home. The veggie was crushed and I met a nice rider in David. Road etiquette is important to keep the peace of the training road.