I was at the grocery store this afternoon when Brandon's wife said hi and mentioned that he and Dan M. were leaving on a ride. I jumped in my car and drove home quickly. I called Dan's cell and caught him. They were less than a mile away. They'd come back and get me.
I dressed quickly, aired up the tires on my long-neglected road bike and opened the garage door just as the two of them were pulling up. I was excited.
We left town headed north. The wind was blowing fairly hard in our faces as we headed up Highway 281. We talked incessantly as we cruised along. We had a lot of catching up to do. The last time I was on my road bike was September 8. It might have been longer than that ago that the three of us were together.
We got to Iuka, rode through town, then headed east. Dan took off as we were rounding a curve. When we caught up with him at the Evergreen Rest Area, he was fixing his shifter cable. It had broken and he was getting the bike into a gear he could manage better. When he was done, we headed back the way we'd come.
The way home was much more enjoyable. The wind was at our backs. We talked as we sped along. When we were back on 281, we mashed the pedals harder so that Brandon could get his average up. I slotted in behind Dan and held on. Our average started to climb. By the time we passed BTI, it was up where Brandon wanted. We pressed on and brought it up more.
The speedfest lasted until we turned onto Maple. Then it was back to conversational pace. Brandon turned left at Stout. Dan and I turned right. We chatted as we rode down to School, then east toward our houses. Dan peeled off at Edgeford and I turned into my driveway. (21.42 miles @ 16.5mph)
My wife was home from working at the school when I got off my bike. She wanted to go for a run, so I changed clothes. We walked around the block, then started to run. We ran and walked on and off for a little over a mile, then turned around and ran back the way we'd come. We walked our cool down. We were done. (2.13 miles @ 12:02)
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