We Came We Saw We Won the Battle!

[go_went_gone]

Its midnight .. D-Rock and I have to be up in 5 hours to go riding...2 hours later we find ourselves with the rest of the neighbors riding around the city for 24 hour coffee shops and hanging out on the top of parking garages..3am rolls around and I find myself passed out in my bed and D-Rock is on the computer typing away.. My alarm goes off at 5am.. D-Rock still hasnt slept.. Frank shows up 10 minutes later .. We throw on the bike rack which took a little longer then expected..We are on the road by 545am.. We head to the wesside and stop and grab some cliff bars and water before our journey.. We park in the old R&R parking lot on Charleston and Town Center and we get to riding around 630.. Before getting out the of the parking lot Frank's seat falls off his bike and he starts to think its an omen that we shouldnt be taking this ride today .. I tell him I dont believe in that crap and we head back out on the road.. Its about a 5 mile ride to Red Rock from Charleston and Town Center and the elevation increases about 500ft..D-Rock your average smoker is having a hard time making up this hill .. Its 80 degrees out and the hot wind is blowing in our faces .. Cyclists are riding on both sides of the roads and we take our time to get to the entrance.. We head into Red Rock Canyon scenic loop which is a 13 mile loop and the elevation is at a max of 4000ft .. The first 8 miles are long, windey and pretty intense if you are on a single speed such as Frankie .. I told myself I was not going to change gears the entire time.. I wanted to finish it on one speed but by the 5th mile Im grunting and my cranks are barely even being turned over because the incline is soo intense .. I honestly thought I was going to rip the break levers off my bars because I was pulling soo hard to get up the hill... But right before almost falling over I couldnt take it .. I quickly dropped into the easiset gear and I was saved .. D-Rock was having a hard time making it up the hill and was a good 15 minutes behind me .. Frankie kept cramping up and as I waited on the side of the road on mile 5 for them I saw Frankie walking his bike up the hill.. People twice our age and calve muscles the size of my head were flying by at top speed like it was nothing.. They would wave or say good morning and even some asked us of we were alright.Did we look that pathetic? Yah Im sure we did .. An old man with grey hair in his 50's flew by me and then I just couldnt take it anymore.. I hopped on my bike and left Frank and D-Rock behind..I paced behind him the entire rest of the way .. I was soo determined that I could do this at a faster pace then I was riding before and he was what I needed to do so .. Its all a mind game really..My legs werent tired .. But just my mind .. Looking at the windey roads ahead .. I just kept my head down and kept peddling up and up.. Mile 8 is pretty much the last of the big inclines..All that hard work had finally paid off..Because what goes up must come down .. Yeap .. Tucking in on the bars and the hot wind is blowing in my face .. Its all downhill and Im taking it all in because it feels so fucking beautiful and the previous 8 miles were lost somewhere because I felt nothing but being free .. Im going at a speed of 32 miles an hour on my bike.. I rode by the trail where we used to go hiking when we ditched in school.. Everything seems in place and Im still pacing behind the grey haired guy and he keeps looking back to check and make sure Im doing alright.. We reach the final curve at mile 12 and I can see the highway from there .. I scream out loud.. " FUCK YEAH BITCH I DID IT" with a huge smile on my face.. We reach the end and the man smiles.. waves and says have a good one and he gets in his car and drives away .. I know it wasnt much of a long distance ride but I was just happy I got through it without having to walk my bike..The people who ride out there everyday are intense and have every turn and speed dialed in at such a fast pace that it makes me want to head out there every day to catch up....I ended up being a good 30 minutes ahead of D-Rock and I screamed his name as he made the final curve because Im soo stoked he made it all the way .. 15 minutes after that Frank rides around the corner and he looks ready to die.. He had to walk his bike a few more miles because his legs kept cramping up .. A mini van pulled up next to him while riding and handed him some water because they thought he was going to die. All in all all of us were stoked we made it to the end.. We took a break at the end of the looop and then we got on our bikes and still had that final 5 miles to go back to the car .. We kept in a line and all had our own pace.. Head down .. Pedal pedal pedal is all I could do .. The weather had reached 106 degrees out and the wind was burning my face off .. We ended the ride with some lunch at Whole Foods and a visit with Minnick at work.. Goal ACCOMPLISHED! .. Im ready to head out again next week.. Maybe with some more sleep before hand though ..

Total Distance Travelled: 28.56 miles
Total Ride Time: 2 hours 35 minutes 17 seconds
Average Speed: 11.08 mph
Max Speed: 32.4
Bottles of water consumed:2
Cliff bars:3
Elevation:4000ft
Temperature:start:80 end:106