Sleepy . . .

Man, I'm tired. First full week of hard bike riding and there are a few things I've noticed.

1. My ability is increasing. My planned ride on Friday and Saturday were both about 30% longer than I had planned because I felt really good.

2. Time didn't allow much riding yesterday. (Hey man, it was my six year anniversary with my lovely wife. We had to stare longingly into each others eyes.) So, after dinner, Gert, Mom and I all hopped on our bikes and rode around. I spent most of the time riding up and down a hill as fast as I could. Mom joined in as well. When I started back on the bike, that hill killed me one time up. Yesterday I was able to do it six or seven times at full speed. My legs didn't hurt. In fact, they felt good. Really good.

3. Speaking of full speed . . . Saturday I was riding around the lake. It was a foggy morning, so the trails were covered in a fine mist. It was really nice. I had just started my ride and was moving at a pretty good clip on a nice flat, long, straight section. When I had hopped on the trail, there were no other bikers to be seen and I could see at least half a mile in each direction. As I'm riding, just getting into my rhythm, I hear this sound. It's kind of a whirring or a hum. Nothing ahead of me, nothing behind me that I can see.

Then, all of a sudden, two riders on Cannondales come whizzing past me like TIE Fighters in Star Wars. Now, I was going pretty fast, but these guys . . . wow. Granted their bikes weigh as much as my pedals and they were obviously training for something serious.

Then, one of them leaves the trail and rides down to the road that runs parallel to the trail. This gave me time to catch up to him as he headed perpendicular to me. Then, there was a small downhill section as I started heading under a bridge and he remained flat.

Bastard passed me while I was going down hill and he was moving across a flat plain.

Now I'm jealous. My stupid bike is heavy and cumbersome. His is light and fast. Of course, I can ride on the gravel paths and off trail (where I bent one of my wheels a few years ago, so . . . you know . . . it balances out).

I did get my revenge later in my last mile. There were four bikers on really expensive bikes and I was trailing behind them for a mile or so. I decided to pass them, so I powered past them in my lowest gear and just pushed as hard as I could back to the end of my ride.

Of course, they were on tandems, but I still blew past them.