GU “The Great Chiweenie” -
Weeks with my family can be busy, traveling to different places usually to go for a ride. The past two weeks was no different. We (Megan, Cub, and I) went to two charity rides that were going to have some cycling stars attending. The first week was cold and threatening rain. I wanted to stay in bed, but the money raised was going to local families.
A grouping of riders that looked like skeletons were hanging out with crowds forming around them. Cub and Megan got excited and wanted to take pics of me and some of them. The first guy was tall and slim, and didn't realize I was on Cub's back. Then he turned to look and slightly jumped by surprise, I'm pretty sure it was my lazy eye and my morning breath that startled him. The other guy spoke kind of funny, but I had met him during the 2008 Tour of Missouri (seems like years ago). The ride itself was fun. We met quite of few female riders. I'm pretty sure they thought I was cute. We hung with the group until the air left Cub's tire and then we chased.
Luckily, there was food. Good food. Really good food, but then we rushed away to try to stay with one of the groups. Then the worst thing happened, Cub lost Megan. She was right behind us, then when we stopped to wait, she never showed up. I told Cub we'd find her, but he was panicky. After looking for her for hours, we finally found her, of course, where the food was at the end of the ride.
Now the second week was different. The day was clearer, but still cold. We convinced Megan's brother and mom to go with us, since we were down there for their birthdays. The ride was nice and slow, with good smells as we rode out of the town. I kept telling Cub to go faster, but he kept going at his pace.
Towards the end of the 25 mile ride, some of the riders doing the longer route were passing us. One group went by and giggled, I looked around, but couldn't figure out what they were laughing at. Cub asked if he could go with them and Meg said “Go!”. Cub stood up and quickly caught onto the group. I was hungry and ready for the ride to be done. The group had a female we had met the day before and the ride was at a nice friendly pace that brought enough wind to make my ears go up. BUT, there was some hairy chinned guy whose bike was making noises. WHAP, WHAP, WHAP, over and over again. It was annoying and disturbing my concentration on the increased wind in my face. We rode on and then we ate. Afterwards, we went back to Nana's and ate even more, STEAK!!! All was well.
CUB “The Rider without a Name” -
Weekends are great. Going out for longer rides and usually traveling to races or charity rides is always fun. This past weekend was no different. We (Megan, GU, and I) went to two charity rides that were going to have some professional rides. Saturday we went to Avila and rode the Pedal to Pier with Team Columbia. I always like when rides benefit local organizations and families.
It was chilly and I thought it was going to rain, but we were pretty lucky during the ride. Before the ride some of the Columbia riders in their new yellow, white and black kits were hanging out. People asking for their autographs or to take their picture. We were no different. Megan got out the camera and we went right towards George Hincapie. I turned my back so GU could be in the shot and many other cameras were going off. We then went over to see Micheal Rogers. I met him briefly at the end of the 2008 Tour of Missouri, when Mark Cavendish wanted to take a picture of GU. It was after the award ceremony, he stopped their team car and asked for us to come over. Rogers was in the back seat and I shook his hand and introduced myself (actually I introduced GU and might have mentioned my name).
The ride itself started nice and easy. Some of Columbia's womens team were riding around us and laughing at the Goober (one of GU's nicknames) and asked Megan questions about him. We were going to shorten the ride because I had a job interview, but looked at Megan and GU and realized the pace was perfect with the highway patrol giving us a rolling closure. “We gotta do the long ride!” Megan agreed until the flat tire. We tried to hurry, because there really was no group after the front pack, just a few spread here and there.
At the food stop, we just missed the second group heading out, with Hincapie and Rogers. Megan told me to try to catch them, but it was not going to happen. I tried for miles, but wasn't close enough to get the rolling closure. Finally, after Morro Bay, I stopped and decided to wait for Megan. GU was getting whiny as he always does when he can't find her. We waited, waited and waited some more. Then I asked one of the riders if he'd seen her and he said, “we haven't passed anyone since Cayucos.” So GU and I took off and rode a majority of the ride by ourselves. Luckily the rain held off until after we were done, because then it poured.
Now the second day was different. Not too warm, but no rain. GU didn't seem happy with the weather conditions. He likes the heat with wind. We were heading down to Thousand Oaks to celebrate Megan's mom and brother's birthday and convinced them to ride the Breakaway from Cancer ride at Amgen. We rode with them almost the entire time. I think we were some of the last riders on the short route. GU was a little whiny when Megan gave him to me to carry. He quieted down when the wind and smells increased, but completely stopped whining when we rode fast.
It just happened to happen that some of the long route riders passed us on the final couple of miles, so I jumped to ride the rest with them. Kim Anderson from Team Columbia's women's team, who we had met the day before, was with the group as was most of the Amgen's Masters Team. But the guy they were all surrounding was Bob Roll. WHAP, WHAP, WHAP. His tire was flat and he kept riding with it. I asked the guy next to me “how long has he been riding with the flat?” and the guy said, “three or four miles.” Rolling over the last few hills he still seemed in total control as his rim was now against the road. We rolled in as the announcer (who by the way sang a great national anthem) welcomed us home. Then it was time to eat and I'm pretty sure GU agreed.
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