Full Circle on Cris' Birthday

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a day that will live on in history as one great ride. With Frozen Flatlands just a couple days away, most people are resting and getting ready for what looks to be a very tough couple of days. But when you love riding your bike, you ride it. And when it's sunny out, you really make sure to ride it. And when it's sunny out, and you have some great friends to ride with, you cancel everything and ride.

Originally Mark (who just got a road bike yesterday), Pat, Cris, and myself were going to head out and ride the 50 mile road course that we would be racing on Saturday...after a 20k TT in the morning. So that 50 miles will actually feel a tad longer. When push came to shove, Pat could not give up another 4 hours away from home after his epic ride up Mt Spokane the day prior, and Mark could not give up over 1/2 a day of work. So it was Cris and myself. It was Cris' birthday too, so I already knew it would be a fun day. I had also sent Greg Welton a message, our coach when we were all racing since I knew he was riding a bit too, but did not hear from him. As I was about 10 minutes away from getting ready to ride, Greg calls me on the phone and apologizes for not getting the message earlier and would have to miss the ride. But since it was Cris' birthday, and he was running about 30 minutes late, it all worked out and we had 3 people heading out to Cheney.

Not to bore you with the details of what heart rate zone I was in, or what I ate, or how any of us felt on any of the climbs, the great part of the ride was all the conversation. I think my first internal conversation was when we first started out on the course and Greg started a rant of a pace. I thought, "Holy sh#@! There is not way I am going to be able to maintain this pace for 50 miles!" But we eventually slowed down a bit...or the wind slowed us down. It was so much fun reminiscing about what great times we have all had, what is happening in cycling today, what a friggin' idiot Eric Calmond was/is, and what we have all been up to. You see, the three of us have not all been together riding since 1990. And back then, things were amazing in the cycling world. And of course for Cris and I, we were mere 18 year olds with not a worry around us. Just chasing races and girls. But yesterday, when we were all riding, it was just like it was before. Pure enjoyment out on the road and turning the pedals.

Both Cris and I shot some video and pics on the ride. Hopefully he will load his up too, but here is a little clip I had.