Hello, Yes, it's Been Awhile

Lets see, since we last spent quality time together much has happened.  I have so much to say, just so very little you really want to hear.

I'll by pass Thanksgiving and Christmas and start with New Years.

I need to by pass those holidays because it reminds me that I let myself off the leash as far as eating goes (and drinking).  You just can't do that once you pass a certain age.  But you can gain 4 pounds.

Anyhoo I enjoyed it I'm ashamed to say. Eating and drinking all you want has a certain freedom to it. Know what I mean?

Then I Moto

So a heavy but happy me went to the Tallahassee Trail Riders Hangover Hare Scramble on January 1, 2015, and got to ride some moto.  The track was on private property and open by invitation only.  If I had a place like that to ride I would have never sold my dirt bikes.  Hamp let me borrow his KTM 350 SX.  I'll admit to being more than a little nervous but once I got moving it all came back.  I was having such a blast they had to flag me off the track.  To be able to lean the bike into a soft berm, crank open the throttle, and feel it surge forward is such a rush.  No big jumps, and I took it easy in the rutted sections, but I felt like I could ride for hours.  Funny how that kind of thing can make you forget everything except what's happening at that exact moment.

Almost 5 Hours

That's how long it took us to finish the San Felasco mountain bike tour.  15 minutes longer than last year, but I have a good excuse.  Let me start by saying that I enjoyed the ride very much this year.  It seemed like we covered more single track (some of it twice).

But alas, when we were within 5 miles of the finish, The Kid, Andy, and I, while moving along at a moderate pace, came to a patch of pine straw on a two track road corner.  Andy went through fine, I had no problem, but The Kid, well, he lost the front end.  This caused him to smash his family jewels into his carbon fiber top tube.  As you can imagine much screaming and rolling around ensued.  It took him quite a while to shake it off (no pun intended) before we could roll in.  And we did so very gingerly.

Everything turned out ok.  I am truly fortunate to get to ride bikes with my college age son.

Gorilla

Let me start by saying I don't like to ride my bike with a lot of people around me.  Especially people I don't know.  So why do I participate in this ride every year?  As Big Worm reminded me when I told him I was going to forgo the mass start at city hall "If you don't roll out with the crowd it's just another group ride".   Yea.

I guess I should give a brief description of what the Gorilla is.  It's a social ride put out on social media that starts at the Tallahassee City Hall and winds it's way through the urban streets and trails.   There is always some confusion as to the direction it goes when it hits the single track, plus there's different groups doing their own thing (me being one of them).  Add in 150 riders of all different skill levels and you can see my point right?

I had made (or thought I had) arrangements to meet the lead group in a parking lot along the route. The Kid and I rolled around in circles for 30 minutes until Big Worm called and said they had already changed the route and to meet him on the trail.  Off we went.

Once on single track we encountered riders going the wrong way (could have been us?), a loooong line of people walking a small climb, and crowds of people jockeying for position.  I'm sorry, I just don't have the patience for some of this foolishness.  As soon as we got to an open section, a group of riders I didn't know would form around me.  Lots of T-shirts and back packs, all cutting in front of me, then stopping.  Did I have a sign on me somewhere that said "I want to race you"?

Wait!  I just had an epiphany!  I was pigeon holing certain riders by what they were wearing.  What if, they were treating me the way they were because I look a little older than they do?  "This old guy can't be very fast, I better get in front of him before we get to _______."  Nah, they were doing it to The Kid too, and he sure doesn't look old.  They wouldn't pass and then ride on, they would pass and then settle in front or beside me.  It was like they didn't know where to go, just that they had to be in front or beside ME!

Whats the bid deal you say?  What's a little bumping and wheel overlap?  Do you know how much fitness you loose if you have to take a week off the bike due to an injury?  Now multiply that for every decade you are over 40.

Nope, the risk is too high.  Too many people who never race their bikes with the idea it's a race.  In the end it all worked out though.  Three of us rode the last 10 miles almost by ourselves.  So yea, it was just like a regular group ride.

Oh, and I think the word you're looking for is curmudgeon.

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/curmudgeon

Merriam‑Webster

a person (especially an old man) who is easily annoyed or angered and who often complains