Tuesday, March 31: Man or Mouse?
As far as the Fatmen went it was 1 man and 3 mice. Eric went with the big kids and had a nice 90 mile ride although in my book “nice” and “90 mile ride” don’t go in the same sentence. Mike, Mario and I comprise 3/4 of the “other group”. All three of us had pretty sore legs and there was no way we were going that far. We did manage to get Mike a cassette with a 27 before the ride; they have a couple of spares here. Tom Kellogg put it on and I really wish we had a picture of the 4 Fatmen watching him change it out looking at it like he had just discovered fire. Again, big entertainment for the others.
Everyone starts out together although I quickly am at the back with Mario and one of our guides for the day, Paul, just up ahead. When we reach the rendezvous, Mike said the group was already breaking up and they were 10 miles into their day. We then set out at a reasonable pace to the climb of the day, reminiscent of our Alpe d’Huez but longer and with a couple more switchbacks. But it never went over 12% so we were wondering what all the fuss about the big climb was about. Not that we flew up, but it certainly wasn’t Hill 27 suffering.
Our reward was a multi-mile descent that Michael and I shot down ahead of everyone else. Perhaps surprisingly, Michael led the descent and I followed on his wheel. The rest of the ride was reasonable terrain, but there is no getting around going up and down hills even when avoiding the big ones. Some are sprinters hills that you can use your downhill momentum to power over but others require getting into your climbing gears and going up slowly. Obviously it helps being able to tell the two apart, but it isn’t always obvious. The countryside is beautiful and traffic is very light as promised. But the riding does require attention so you aren’t spending much time looking at the scenery. If it isn’t negotiating a road filled with gravel, it is a speedy descent or a paceline.
Mario and I suffered up the last hill to the Inn. Michael had gone ahead to make some calls for work. Damage for the day was 45 miles and another 4100 feet of climbing. We went straight over to the Inn for lunch of an Indian chickpea dish over rice. Very satisfying as all of us were starving at that point and it was 2 PM. The whole nutrition thing seems strange here. I guess it just a Darwinian thing of provide for yourself or die.
After a leisurely lunch and cleaning up we retired to the porch with the tunes and carbohydrate recovery beverages and wait for Eric to roll in. When he does he is in surprisingly good shape although he staggers with rubber legs as he changes directions; sort of like Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou.
Mike declares he needs steak for dinner which doesn’t get any protests from anyone. The plan for dinner is a new local brewpub which indeed has very good steaks. And good beer. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Fatmen are given their own table. We quickly turn this to our advantage as we get our beer first, our orders first and our food first. Mike inhales nachos, salad, his steak and everything else on the plate. We’ve never seen him eat like this. Then he orders a dessert! I’ve spent alot of time with Mike and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him eat dessert. As he says, “I get my calories from a bottle”. Anyway, I think that is the best testimony that we’ve been riding hard and burning calories.
We finished first and since everyone is paying for their own dinners, we pay and leave first. Back to the cabin and time for tunes and more beverages. Just as we get settled, Eric tells us we should head up to the Inn and be social with everyone else. So we go up to the lodge and catch Justin playing his guitar; he plays and records professionally on keyboards and drums with his brother and apologizes for his guitar playing. As if anyone else there could come close.
After that Mike concludes we need scotch. Fortuitously, we have some single malt brought for just such emergencies. We also need to toast Mike’s last night here; he has to go home early tomorrow morning to get back to his latest deal. Real estate does not wait. So we turn in at a respectable hour with much less scotch consumed than the last time the two of us drank scotch together.
Glad you had a good ride. I wouldn't have figured Erick for the mas macho.
Did you have beer, then wine with dinner, then scotch, AND manage to keep your cookies? Woo-hoo. :)
Posted by: Kathi | April 01, 2009 at 08:20 PM