Sunday 2 January 2011

Sliding Into This Year

Got stuck at the salt mine most of the day Friday, but got to sneak out for a few quality hours. While the carpet guys lay carpet, there ain't much I can add to the equation. A nice ride in strange lands. How freaking big is Fort Belvoir? Freaking HUGE! In any case it was nice to a) ride outside which I hadn't done in too long and b) enjoy pretty nice weather.

Really was tempted to build my weekend around the Haymarket thing but factors made it not make sense this weekend. My better half surprised me with a New Year's Eve board of fare not to be surpassed easily. Moules mariniere for starters, then Cornish game hens for the main, finished with a lovely sorbet, berries and cookie thing. Aww yeah. Anyhow, having been up at weekday hours and putting in a pretty big ride, plus the missus being sick with the same cold as everyone else has, we didn't exactly paint the town red. I prefer that scene for New Year's by a lot anyhow.

Made a grand debut in 2011 on the 10am. Those are pretty fun rides. I was leading tempo for a while, and some good riders had come onto the ride, and then I see a guy up ahead who you can just tell is wicked fast just from how he sits on his bike. Getting closer, I see the shiny purple hubs of pain. Sweet. So he and Mike 1 get proceedings fully lit up, and people are trading turns, and then 4 of us, with Mike 2 as the 4th, have got a little gap. PHoP pulls off, Mike 1 pulls through, and Mike 2 pulls over behind PHoP, leaving me to close the gap to the front and then pull through. Totally over dramatically, as is my wont, I look at Mike 2 and bitch "ahh, Mike you're God Damn KILLIN' me!". He shrugs and gives a smile, but I think Mike 1 (who I really don't know at all, while I know Mike 2 pretty well) got weirded out because when I pulled through from him he gave me a "dude, calm down". Funny stuff.

Five minutes later I hit a greasy patch and went down like a chicken head. It was a weird, f'd up thing, I heard someone going down behind me, and was like "jeez, that's probably going to happen to me too," and then my front wheel started going sideways and that was all she wrote. Minor bruising and road rash. The group was long gone when we got all dusted off, but it was a good ride in from there. Had some good company, etc.

Absolutely foul conditions today. Flahute for sure.

1 comment:

mepshteyn said...

If you hadn't made that ankles comment I would have pulled through! Just kidding, I was actually pretty gassed and didn't want to blow up quite yet. I'm glad you weren't too banged up. See you out there soon.

- Mike 2