Hi Chuckie,
Mary's resting her back under chiropractic decree.
Today I rode by myself from the house we are staying
in, out to the park. 78° and Sunny, but a pretty stiff wind. I made
a turn around on the extension that we like to add to that loop, and
put .4 mph onto my average in about a mile and a half coming back
out of the wind.
Turning toward the first bridge, I saw another rider
a couple hundred yards ahead. Guess what? I took off chasing him.
Bet you didn't guess that!
I had almost caught him after the downhill from the
bridge, but he turned off into a development.
Soon after, I turned another corner and straight back
into the wind again. When I finally picked up my head, there was
another rider almost the same couple hundred yards ahead. I thought,
"Well, he doesn't look much stronger than the guy I almost caught."
So guess what? I took off chasing him. Well, Chuckie,
maybe you are getting smarter, and you guessed it this time.
By the time I got to the next bridge, I was a little
aggravated that I hadn't caught him yet, plus the wind and exposed
uphill of that new bridge didn't really help much.
On the long stretch after the bridge, the wind had
only increased, but I realized I was now just pacing the guy, which
meant we were pretty evenly matched. I spoke softly to myself, "If
we are evenly matched, that means this guy is a total loser, so I
should be able to beat him."
On the next bridge (the
one from this video that you've already seen) I almost lost
sight of him, but I stayed close enough to see him turn onto the
trail after entering the park.
We always use the trail for a cool down and hardly
ever see fast riders on it, so I figured this was my time. "I'll
just stay on the road that parallels the trail, let the trail's
curves slow him down a bit, while I just work harder straight into
the wind."
But on making the final turn out of the wind, he was
the same couple hundred yards ahead.
A park truck, all pissed off that I didn't yield to
him on the turn, took a nick out of my elbow, then sucked me along
faster than I could have been on my own. I probably should have
yielded, but it was a clear choice. "Possible death, or defeat?
Hmm...what would Chuckie do?"
By the time I made the final turn into the parking
lot where Mary was waiting with the dog, I was within a few yards of
the guy, but I was hoping Mary could tell me how strong he was, so I
pulled off. "What rider?" she mumbled, and stretched her back.
Well, driving out of the park, we saw the guy again,
or at least it seemed to be him. When we got over the next to last
bridge, we went by him, and I was sure it was my guy.
Just before the last bridge, I saw the first guy
coming back of of the development he'd turned into earlier. But when
we got close I realized, "I think that's my guy. I bet he cut
through the town houses and came out the other side."
We were first in line as that final bridge went up,
and I turned off the truck. The guy rode up behind us. We had
plenty of time till the boat was going to be through, so I got out
and asked him if it had been him, in the park, and on this bridge
earlier.
Yep. It was him alright. And he looked plenty strong
enough for me not to feel so bad about not catching him. He was sort
of
Zirra
like, had an Iron Man jersey. Except he told me about some "old"
guys he had chased the same way once, instead of calling me an old
guy myself. More or less un Zirra like in that regard.
In any case, he told me he had been pacing 30 mph
with the tail wind coming out of the park. I wasn't so impressed. I
can pace 30 mph if I want to. See, watch here: SlingShot is
now pacing 30 mph. What'd I tell you. Nothin' to it.
I've got myself all excited now, so I'm going out for
another ride. It's 78° and Sunny.
Oh, I missed what you were saying, something about
picking up your materials for your Independent Study?
- SlingShot