I have been riding on a red Specialized Allez for two years and it has been a great ride. That machine has carried me through a lot more than just miles of tarmac. It has helped me through my first Nationals and taken to the hospital during my recovery from a car accident to brighten the mood. It has been the center of my life for two years, but all good things must come to an end. My last ride on The Beast today was an appropriate ending, an epic ride.
I started out with the plan of doing the Roaster's ride and then going for a few more hours. I went out early and spun to San Anselmo, where upon I sat around for 30 minutes waiting for a ride that I finally decided must not be going on. I headed out into the cold for a ride by myself. When I started White's Hill I was sure glad that I was by myself because I was suffering. Over the past few weeks I have had decent legs on the flats, but I just get knocked on climbs. I think my legs are just tired. Well I fought my way out to the Cheese factory and the sun began to shine a little. It was the beginning of another beautiful day in paradise, well I thought it would be.
I had an awesome time riding out on the country roads towards Marshall, they have even repaved a lot of the sections of that road and it is damn beautiful out there. I grimaced my way to the top of Marshall and flew down to Tomales, where upon I fought a consistent head wind into Pt. Reyes. The last few climbs going into Pt. Reyes were just rollers but they were killing me. It felt as if my rear wheel was low or something. Five miles later its flat, I love slow leaks.
So, I have got my equipment to fix this, no problem right. I slap in a new tube and get the CO2 and then as I snap in the CO2 it shoots everywhere except for into the tube. What bloody luck, I am finished. The cell phone doesnt work and I thought that my parents were in Calistoga so it wasnt going to be much use anyway. I start looking around for some fellow riders, but the cold day seemed to scare most people off the road. So I tear the valves off of my tubes and slap the two of them in and begin to ride. I sit real far forward and try to put all my weight onto the front wheel, w/o going over the bars. After a bit I begin to realize that I am not going to pull this off for 15 miles and I start looking towards the side of the road. I see a mountain bike tire. I grab it with the idea of slapping this one into the wheel also and hopefully making it work a little better and not kill my rim. So this tube is pretty think and getting the valve off proved to be quite a challenge. I got a sharp rock and eventually punctured it and pulled the valve off.
Just then as Im thinking of how epic this is going to be a fellow riders shows up. He offers to help me out as I explain my situation. First he lends me a tube and I slap it in and try to get it going with his pump, but the valve is too short for my rims. I take that out and he offers me a tube with a longer stem. Everthing goes well and I get the thing all pumped up perfectly and just as I take the pump off, so does the tip of the valve come off. Just then another riders shows up, a real friendly guy that offers to help, but he only has a short valve tube. He hangs with us for a bit as we think of what to do. Then my new friend, Mark from Novato decides that he will be incredibly nice and take the long stemmed tube from his front wheel, let me have it and stick the short stem into his wheel. Jeze what a nice guy. Everything works out perfectly and we head out on our seperate ways after many Thanks.
After standing there for 30 minutes my legs our more dead than they were before. Plus it is getting darker and cloudier and I am starving. I finish up my last Clif-Shot but that does little help, as I am still starving. My legs dont seem to want to move but I suffer on. I make it to the San Geronimo golf course and begin to die as I am suffering into a headwind going about 12 mph. Just then a large man shows up and passes me. Hes cruising and I am able to jump right into his slipstream. Jeze, that was a great slipstream. We were cruising and I was barely pedaling. I made it to the base of White's Hill and suffered to the top. I made it home, and three bowls of cereal later I felt much better.
The time has come for a New Beast and after 4 hours in the garage it is built. It is time for the last farewells to the Old Beast and this is my tribute to her. I can not remember all the experiences that we had together, but I will always remember our last ride.
I started out with the plan of doing the Roaster's ride and then going for a few more hours. I went out early and spun to San Anselmo, where upon I sat around for 30 minutes waiting for a ride that I finally decided must not be going on. I headed out into the cold for a ride by myself. When I started White's Hill I was sure glad that I was by myself because I was suffering. Over the past few weeks I have had decent legs on the flats, but I just get knocked on climbs. I think my legs are just tired. Well I fought my way out to the Cheese factory and the sun began to shine a little. It was the beginning of another beautiful day in paradise, well I thought it would be.
I had an awesome time riding out on the country roads towards Marshall, they have even repaved a lot of the sections of that road and it is damn beautiful out there. I grimaced my way to the top of Marshall and flew down to Tomales, where upon I fought a consistent head wind into Pt. Reyes. The last few climbs going into Pt. Reyes were just rollers but they were killing me. It felt as if my rear wheel was low or something. Five miles later its flat, I love slow leaks.
So, I have got my equipment to fix this, no problem right. I slap in a new tube and get the CO2 and then as I snap in the CO2 it shoots everywhere except for into the tube. What bloody luck, I am finished. The cell phone doesnt work and I thought that my parents were in Calistoga so it wasnt going to be much use anyway. I start looking around for some fellow riders, but the cold day seemed to scare most people off the road. So I tear the valves off of my tubes and slap the two of them in and begin to ride. I sit real far forward and try to put all my weight onto the front wheel, w/o going over the bars. After a bit I begin to realize that I am not going to pull this off for 15 miles and I start looking towards the side of the road. I see a mountain bike tire. I grab it with the idea of slapping this one into the wheel also and hopefully making it work a little better and not kill my rim. So this tube is pretty think and getting the valve off proved to be quite a challenge. I got a sharp rock and eventually punctured it and pulled the valve off.
Just then as Im thinking of how epic this is going to be a fellow riders shows up. He offers to help me out as I explain my situation. First he lends me a tube and I slap it in and try to get it going with his pump, but the valve is too short for my rims. I take that out and he offers me a tube with a longer stem. Everthing goes well and I get the thing all pumped up perfectly and just as I take the pump off, so does the tip of the valve come off. Just then another riders shows up, a real friendly guy that offers to help, but he only has a short valve tube. He hangs with us for a bit as we think of what to do. Then my new friend, Mark from Novato decides that he will be incredibly nice and take the long stemmed tube from his front wheel, let me have it and stick the short stem into his wheel. Jeze what a nice guy. Everything works out perfectly and we head out on our seperate ways after many Thanks.
After standing there for 30 minutes my legs our more dead than they were before. Plus it is getting darker and cloudier and I am starving. I finish up my last Clif-Shot but that does little help, as I am still starving. My legs dont seem to want to move but I suffer on. I make it to the San Geronimo golf course and begin to die as I am suffering into a headwind going about 12 mph. Just then a large man shows up and passes me. Hes cruising and I am able to jump right into his slipstream. Jeze, that was a great slipstream. We were cruising and I was barely pedaling. I made it to the base of White's Hill and suffered to the top. I made it home, and three bowls of cereal later I felt much better.
The time has come for a New Beast and after 4 hours in the garage it is built. It is time for the last farewells to the Old Beast and this is my tribute to her. I can not remember all the experiences that we had together, but I will always remember our last ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment