Riding with a Pro.

9/10/07

Day three of Zen..............

Since I know a "Pro" I....yeah I know a "Pro"....I thought I'd call him and see if he wanted to ride with us. Being that I am such a cool chick the "Pro" of course accepted my offer. Well actually he wasn't a "Pro" at the time but soon became one shortly after this ride. http://www.charlytri.blogspot.com/

Zen and I were a bit nervous about the hurt Gunman could put on us. We were told no worries, it was his tempo day and he would ride his mountain bike in the big gear the whole time. (and that he did.) Although I towed him up a hill, who really is the stronger one? :P

It was a chilly evening and we started out at 6ish. The nights are getting shorter and I knew we wouldn't get in much of a ride. Gunman didn't bring his super dooper heavy duty lighting system so we couldn't night ride even though we ended up doing it anyway.

You see, I had a route in mind. I get a bit stubborn and really want to finish things. Well "said Pro" decided that we should change the route. We had been arguing how late it would be if we went my way, so his way would be better. Actually the words were , "Want to go for a cooler ride that has a bit of a nasty part?" Well who isn't up for cooler. We headed off his way.

We came upon a few dogs that the guys couldn't seem to bark off, so I, the meek little woman that I am yelled sternly and left them cowering in the ditch. The dudes just looked at each other. They knew they weren't riding with no wimp anymore!

The cooler ride turned out to be great! This was undiscovered land to me. Of course we were riding into the wind, when aren't you in MN, but we were having a blast. At least I was.

We had smooth peaceful roads in the middle of the corn fields. Zen and Gunman rode off together, oh wait, they rode behind me *wink*, and I pretty much was on my own. "Said Pro" didn't care for a chick being ahead of him so he constantly had to catch up.

I have always enjoyed talking to Gunman. He has listened to me yap on and on and on but there was enlightenment. This man can yap as much as I can if not more! For the first time on a group ride I didn't have to talk if I wanted conversation. I was able to listen to Gunman and Zen yap together and enjoy the beautiful land we were on.

The smooth course ended and we hit the roughest part of Highway 52. Who rides on Hwy. 52 in the first place? Obviously crazy Gunman!

The sun was going down and we could not see, or at least I couldn't see. I tried to catch a wheel as we zig zagged along the narrow shoulder of Hwy. 52 trying to not hit the potholes (future lakes of MN). What made it interesting was that the potholes were not only holes but huge cracks along the road the ran parallel to the road which made it a gutter in itself to ride in, or to not if you could. A few miles down we turned in front of the cars that were flying by us, onto a nice peaceful road again.

Zen was "a bit" low on fuel and we were both tired from the previous days of riding. Gunman was still in his big gear, he's the "Said Pro" right? The light was nearly gone and we were still fairly far out of town. Zen wasn't so pleased about our riding style, lack of light, busy roads and potholes but I know he had a blast.

We turned right onto Cty 1 heading back towards town. This is the best road to pace line on. We started a nice line clipping along at a decent speed. Not a speed that hurt but one that was a blast. There was no need to have the best pace, there was a need to fly. And that we were.

Gunman was pulling, I was in the middle and Zen was sucking off my wheel. :D Gunman started yapping, I mean, to tell a story about a chick in town that is always begging to ride with him. The thing about this chick is that she always sucks off his wheel when she rides with him. I asked him who it was, he explained that she was really cool and a nice person but............. then BAM, I realized this chick he was talking about was me!

I got in front and took the pull. Gunman didn't want to admit but he really did need the break. I guess riding in the big gear was beginning to take a toll on him. I couldn't help but break out into a big smile.

We hit the last hill to descend or shall I say the only one to descend on that particular ride. Yeah, it's MN.

Gunman pulled his competitive side out again and decided to pass me and get in front. Then next came Zen. Men, do they always have compete?

The rest of the ride consisted of quiet town roads where Gunman directed us back to the shop. It was pitch black at this point and all we had were little tail lights. I took the back because Zen didn't bring his light. What was he thinking? Did he honestly think we wouldn't be out doing crazy stuff like riding around town in pitch black without lights?

Seriously, who did Zen come to visit?

Thanks Gunman for the wonderful ride and thanks Zen for you understanding! :D