Trekking

If you knew me a few years ago, I didn't own a bike. Then I did, and my friend Jennifer sold me on riding Bike MS. I figured signing up would light a candle under my massive ass to ride more often than I would left to my sedentary devices.



Good call. Jennifer also turned me on to group rides, which turned me on to bicycle adventures which turned me on to meeting my soulmate. Which turned me on to bicycle commuting and the next thing I knew I wasn't doing nearly as many group rides.



Back when I met these folks, it made total sense to me to drive ten miles with my bike on the car, ride in a 20-mile circle, then drive ten miles home with the bike on the car. As opposed to riding ten miles from home and then back, say. Or riding ten miles to work and then home in the evening.



Anyway, I still love these guys and I don't see them nearly enough if you don't count Facebook (and really, that shouldn't count). So I had ridden to work on a Monday morning, got out of work on time, and made my way over to the Trek store. I was actually early. Got to talk to my friend Joel, who works there. He was off to Friz on the Plaza, towing a mountain bike behind his scooter.




I think Joel worked at the Trek store when I started riding, so it's possible he remembers this fat, broke, divorced guy with a $50 used bike he bought out of a friend's basement. A guy who'd had a heart attack a few years before, at the ripe old age of 32, and who seemed determined to pull a Dick Cheney impersonation on the Monday night Recovery Ride.




As I told our sweeper, my friend Julia, I may be old and fat, but I know how to climb a hill slowly.

It was truly great to see my old friends, even if at least one was conspicuously absent. I started snapping pics with ny Nikon and Abby asked me, 'You going to lug that thing on the whole ride?'

I lug that thing everywhere. I think my camera bag might be grafted to my shoulder, I can't be sure. Anyway, what a great time. As I observed with another rider in the group, the best rides are generally averaging ten miles per hour with good friends.