dropping fred

connect.garmin.com/activity/96943731

fred and i had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we swung our legs over the top tube of our bikes and rolled out with dave. we'd ridden with each other before, but not with dave. all we knew was this: dave used to race in colorado.

we headed south from the cherokee strip museum south of arkansas city onto 61st road. our speed ramped up after a lazy first mile and never really slowed much throughout the 20+ mile ride. after a false start, meeting an early end to the pavement heading south, we returned to 322nd road and headed east.

there are hills to the east of 61st road on 322nd and dave's pace was relentless up the hills which came one after another, after another. after a few of these rollers, fred broke. i don't say that as an insult at all. he'd barely slept the two nights before traveling 22 hours in a car from delaware and then dealing with our father-in-law's snoring. when i accelerated on a hill, fred couldn't. i didn't even know i'd done him in until dave pulled up next to me and said, "you dropped your brother-in-law."

we slowed and waited. i apologized. we continued on. the hills didn't let up. we made it together to the end of the pavement after a close encounter with a couple of dogs.

we rested for a little bit at the bottom of the hill leading back to those dogs' home, then clicked back in and began our ascent. we rolled past the driveway at the summit and the dogs came out at full speed. dave and i accelerated. fred was eaten. that might be a bit of an exaggeration. he had to clip out and kick a dog. that's all. he survived unscathed.

we rode on, pushing up one hill, rolling down the next. fred dropped behind, but not by much. we rode back to 61st street. dave and i stopped. fred rolled up. we continued on to the west. crossing highway 77, we discovered a much less painful road with gradual inclines instead of sharp ups and downs. we rode out three miles or so and then turned around to head back to the car together. fred had recovered a bit and stayed with us to the museum. (22.81 miles @ 18.7mph)