A pair of not so friendly riders passed me on a recent ride,
while I rode with rusty legs and lack of sleep. Their brusque “outta our way”
arrogance as they passed inspired me to pick up my pace and try to stay with
them. I finally got it going enough to catch up and passed them back, maybe
with a little of my own attitude. Then after I rode ahead of them for awhile, one
of them decided to do a stealth pass of me on my right. I was already close to
the right edge of the trail, and he almost scraped against me as he passed. I
think he was offended at my unexpected earlier pass and he wanted to startle me,
just a little hostile payback. I just kept riding and he and his buddy really
hammered it, going about 20-22 mph. They opened up a lead of about 50 yards. I
caught up to them at the end of my first split, where they had stopped to catch
their breath. They pretty much blew themselves up from a long stretch of all
out sprinting. Yeah, these dudes rode fast with attitude, good for them. But hey,
they were done. I rode on. Have a good day, boys.
Yeah, lighten up…
On the way back, there was a steady headwind and it was
pretty warm. I was tired from not enough sleep and rusty legs, so it was just a
matter of keeping a reasonable pace in tough conditions. A woman flew past me
on a tricked out Cervelo, bent over time trial handlebars. Oh, I thought, if I
can catch her wheel, I can keep a better pace without killing myself. So I
jumped on it, and caught up to her. She blazed right along, so it wasn’t easy to
keep up once I was on her wheel. After about a half mile she slowed down and
waved me ahead. She was annoyed and said in a bored tone, “I’m doing a workout,
and I don’t want you on my tail.”
I just rode ahead, didn’t say anything. But I wondered why
she didn’t wave me ahead when I first caught up to her. Anyway, she didn’t look
like she was having any fun at all. Cranky! I’ve been there, and it’s a bad
place to be mentally. It happens when you beat yourself up in a workout, even
though you really need to rest. And it makes you angry, because the workout is
just a relentless self-inflicted painfest, and you’ve already had enough, you’re
physically and mentally burned out. Hey, I’ve learned when the body tells you
to rest, it’s a good idea to listen. If you don’t, you’re just beating yourself
up, wearing yourself down to the nub. And that doesn’t make you more fit, it
just breaks you down.
Time to rest, lady. Enjoy the workout, don’t hate it. If you
hate it, you’re burned out. Time to chill.
I could have said those things to her, but hey, I got the
distinct feeling she didn’t want to listen to some clown’s workout advice!
Squirrel wars
I’m always on the lookout for squirrels, since they commonly
run across the bike trail, and sometimes get hit by riders. I asked a trio of
riders I came across the other day if they’d ever hit a squirrel. One of them
said he had. Another rider had just told him that a squirrel got caught between
the spokes of his front wheel, and it snapped his bike frame in a couple places
as he tumbled off to the side of the trail. The guy luckily only scraped up his
shoulder, but he needed a new bike.
This guy said even after he heard that story and saw a
picture of the broken frame, he was pretty sure the odds of a squirrel getting
caught in his front wheel were pretty small. Even though the guy told him, hey,
if there’s enough space between your spokes, it can happen.
So this guy, not long after, was riding along and BAM!, he flew
over his handlebars with his arms straight out like Superman to break his fall.
He did a face plant, however, he said, landing on his cheek. OUCH! He got up to
see that a squirrel had – you guessed it – got caught in his front spokes, and
it had snapped his front fork in half. Before that happened, he said, he would
ride the flats along the trail like a time trialer, head down, almost never
looking too far ahead.
But now? He looks ahead for squirrels – and chuckholes.
I told him and his buddies that I hiss really loud, like a
big bad snake might, whenever I see a squirrel ahead of me. I’ve found that most times – not always – that scares
them and they take off, usually in the opposite direction. Some squirrels,
however, are oblivious, and either don’t move at all, which is good, or they
run right at you, which is not good. They’re fevered little squirrel brains are
busy with thoughts of gathering nuts or the urge to mate, so you can’t predict
when they’ll dart at your bike as you ride by.
Uh, hello…
I had a bizarre feeling on the bike the other day from
another wild animal, this one a whole lot bigger than a squirrel. As I rode
through a shady part of the trail, I had the sudden feeling of a presence to my
right, so I looked over. And there was a big deer standing quietly in the
shadows right at the edge of the trail.
I rode by, and it didn’t move, but it felt like I was about three feet away as
I passed by. Whoah! Glad I didn’t run
into that big beauty. Made me think that yes, it could happen. OK, let’s just hope it never does. Avoiding maniac
squirrels is about all I can take…
Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet every time you
get on the bike. Then, keep the rubber side down, ride safely, and don’t forget…
have a blast.
-- Mark Eric Larson
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