Moment of Silence for death of young cyclist

[chris]

Our ride last night started out with the tragic news of the young cyclists death. The group circled and had a moment of silence.

There were 10 WOW riders at the start and a two more in route. They were experiencing road closures because of the accident. One stayed behind to ride with the women arriving later. The temperature was 70 degrees at the start, nice.

The 9 of us leisurely pedaled out the Elliot. So far so good, nice small upgrade, but some of us knew what was ahead. The pace picked up a little and sorted out some. Now the “fun” started. Lots of climbing but not too bad.

We had two new women on this ride. One was a seasonal firefighter, who we knew right away was a REAL biker. Before we even started the ride she had lots of GOOD excuses why she might not be able to ride fast enough to keep up. Trust me it was NOT a problem. The other new WOW was C. L., definitely not a new comer to biking, but new to WOW. I don’t think she knows about “easy pace.” She led some great “pulls” and kept the group moving.

We reached Hill Top, regrouped, a now for our LONG downhill. YES, the group definitely had earned it. No matter how many times I do this ride, I still have to convince myself to enjoy the downhill. Seems that every mile that I effortlessly ride, in the back of my mind, no actually it is in the front of my mind, I can’t help but think of the GREAT climb that will be awaiting me on the return. I even try to remind myself that it is never as hard as it seems. Remember, trick the mind, right?

Once we got onto the flats the front pack had a great pace line. Never mind that it took up a while to decide if we should go double pace line so we could gab easier or single. We opted for single. We looked good, and we were flying. Nice job ladies, that was FUN. Fun that is until we got the final 2 mile(?) last climb. Sort of lost our great paceline and the fast speed was also lost on the flats.

Lots of cheering as women made it to the top, only to find out they had a dab more to ride to make it to the 15 mile marker. You could see the mile marker and it was only a tiny bit downhill to get to. Remember, at this point we are well aware of what downhills mean. It means there is an uphill that needs to be climbed.

We started back with all 9 women. The first part was downhill, then the flats where some got into pacelines. Once again we greeted the blueberry pickers, and a few miles later, greeted the folks doing target practice with guns. As C. W. says, always greet folks with guns.

Once again, the climb back to Hill Top is NEVER as bad as I think. In fact several of us kept saying the final climb is hard. To our surprise and delight the “final” climb to Hill Top was almost over before we realized we were pedaling it. See what happens when you are so strong. Or was that a matter of tricking the mind to think there was another one that would be far worse? Whatever.

The last downhill was fast and fun. I think it is even more fun knowing you already climbed it and now it is only a one way ride.

Great ride ladies, see you next week for Cleary Summit and ? miles beyond. Be sure to EAT before the ride, bring a snack, and fluids for the ride, and after. This ain’t no sissy ride ya know.

chris