i chose to...

Jul 19, 2004 23:25

go out and eat some wings with my good buddy russell and our little friend mitsuko. the mariners were losing by 16 runs and i bet russell $1 on 1:1,000,000 odds that they'd win. we ended up losing by 18. all was fine when "me and julio down by the schoolyard" started playing and i started dancing in my seat.  the cook from the back noticed and came up front to dance too.  "come back and we'll dance some more!" he yelled to us as we walked out.

i got home to find the fatherly unit trying to sleep on the couch.  i could tell he wasn't really asleep for i would have heard the snores from outside the house if he truly was out.  mom yelled at me to get some rest, so after she stopped yelling i put on all my gear before i went to bed.  the spandex shorts, the jersey top, the gloves, the sweatband, and i would have put the helmet on too but it would have made me look like a dork going to sleep with a helmet on.

it wasn't more than three hours later that i woke up to my dad screaming in joy, with a slight dash of fear "we're going to portland!  on our bikes now!" he maniacally laughed until i got outta bed to tell him he could stop.  then he laughed some more.  we got up to husky stadium and i stared outside in awe of all other bikers who got up at 4 in the morning to travel 200 miles by bike.  not something that i would think people would do by choice.  i mean i did it out of convenience.  all expenses paid trip to portland, and a cool new outfit to go with.  "everyone be safe!  enjoy your ride and stay hydrated!" a man shouted and everyone was off!  boy was this trip going to be great!

a unicyclist passed us up just shortly after we started, and after i got stopped laughing and whiped the tears from my cheeks we passed him.  at the beginning of the marathon, everyone is in a big group almost like what you see on tv with the tour de france going on.  yelling out when to slow and pointing out potholls... it wasn't too long until i was doing the same thing.  my father and i cruised on through seattle, kent, and in auburn we saw a fellow fall.  he was part of a large group who almost seemed like an ant colony.  all moving in the same direction to base and the instant something goes wrong... they all turn to help fix it.  "see that, that's what happens when people are wreckless." my dad says.  i could tell that this was a forshadow of the pace he intended on going for the rest of the trip.

i would ride right behind him and try to coax him into going at a faster pace.  after the first 50 miles, he started to get annoyed.  i drive at the pace of the fastest car of the road, and if i had my way, it'd be the same way for cycling.  this was both my father's and i's first time to do something of this nature so i sucked it up and stayed behind.  the only time i did go ahead was during large hills where i got to sprint up and rest at the top to wait for the old man.

the half-way stop was centralia where we ate some bland spaghetti for $5.  "eat it up, it tastes like s*&% but we need the carbs for later!"  he says.  i think he's been reading too many cycling magazines.  riding a bike long distances is almost like straddling a swing with a wooden seat and having someone kick the seat up from under you while you sit there.   the sorest part of my body during the ride wasn't my legs, it was my rear.

after we passed the first turn out of the halfway point i heard a young girl say "hey guys" out of my left ear.  so i turned to wave hello when all i could see were 4 boobies resting on the windowcill of an old centralia house.   immediately i did a "curl into a ball" move with both hands covering my eyes followed by a "try not to make a fool of yourself in front of girls again" move by skidding my back tire and clipping out to keep my balance.  my dad, as i did... looked.  but not as i did, he looked again.  and again in a NOT AS I DID fashion... he let out a loud "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

he never used to do that when i was a kid.  guess i know know that when he was telling me to cover my eyes during rated-r movies... he was actually keeping the boobs to himself.

old ladies and children in the small towns we passed stayed by the road to watch the riders and spray water on us.  "it must be really boring to live in one of these towns" i thought.  we met my mom and sister at a small high school just outside of oregon that night.  i went to look at my pictures that i had taken, but sadly there was a dark spot in the middle of my camera screen.  i shrugged and tried to go to sleep.  the girls slept in the car while my dad and i slept in our sleeping bags under the stars.  "aahh... another day tomorrow" he says while i stare up at the big or little dipper... i could never tell which one was which.

we got up at 5 in the morning again, took some pictures, and were off again.  this time there were less cyclist around and it was just my dad and i.  we crossed over a large one lane bridge that suspended over the mouth of the columbia.  oregon!  portland was only 50 more miles away.  i stuck with the old man until it started to get really warm.  we were 5 miles outside of portland and i was tired of getting passed by grandmas in their banana seat bikes so i sprinted ahead just until we got to the lloyd center.  i waited for him to come chugging along so we could cross together.

our old family friends, the fetters, were there with my mom and sister to congratulate us.  gary fetters was my first soccer coach and seeing him at the end of a long work out was a little bit nostalgic.  we met up with thier son, and my childhood friend, john.  talked and ate at a vietnamese restaurant.  we laughed, made some cultural jokes over how my mom and mrs. fetters, both native filipinas, could eat the head of a fish.

we left portland with a yellow "i completed the stp" badge fastened to a string and worn like a necklace.

we're already making plans for next year.  smeagal even showed some interest.  i can't wait.
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