Max's Miscellaneous Musings

I had an awesome ride home last night.  I got off the train at Roma St and decided to wear my yellow tint glasses instead of my sunnies.  I sent MaxBabe a text message letting her know I was on my way.  Off I rode, forgetting to turn on my GPS.  I got to the golf club in Herston and decided the yellow tint glasses were a bad idea (not dark enough, too much fogging) and got off the bike, faffed about with my panniers to find my sunnies, and put them on.  I turned on the GPS and continued my merry way.

As I got to the intersection of Noble St and Newmarket Rd, a couple of cyclists stopped beside me.  One, an American guy, started chatting with me about the weight I was carrying.  I commented about the heat, and mentioned that I'd actually decided to leave my laptop at work to make the ride home a bit easier.  He was riding with a woman who I presume was his wife or girlfriend, and we made small talk until the lights turned green.  They headed off and I wished them a good ride.

Then, something clicked inside me.  Even though I decided I'd take it easy because of the heat, I felt compelled to keep up with them.  So I pushed hard to keep up.  Kedron Brook Rd has a flat section before a climb, and for some reason I always find this flat section a bit challenging.  But last night, I didn't care.  I just wanted to keep up.  So I stayed within a few metres of them.  As they climbed up the hill, cars to the right of us were banked up.  There was a car turning right and in his impatience, some wally had tried to overtake it on the left, and went into the bike lane.  There actually wasn't enough room for him to do this, so he stopped.  The couple were able to squeeze through, but I, with my panniers and wider load, couldn't do it.  I had to slow right down, and prayed the car would turn right soon enough that the car in the bike lane would be able to drive off, and I'd be able to get past without having to stop.  Ever tried to do a hill start on a big hill carrying a heavy load?  Well, let me tell you, I didn't want to find out just how bad that would be.  Anyway, finally the car turned right, the wally got out of the bike lane, and I was able to continue on without stopping.  But by then, the couple were several hundred metres ahead of me, and I resigned myself to the fact that the chase was over.

They turned right at the roundabout, obviously heading for the Kedron Brook bike path.  Most people join this path by taking a direct route to a very narrow path with a tight turn onto the main path.  I dislike this route, so I take a bit of a longer way to get there.  I figured that'd give them another couple hundred metres on me, but if I pushed, I could catch them.  Once on the main path, I started pushing hard.  I couldn't see them, but hey, they couldn't be that far away, right?  After a few minutes, I could see them in the distance.  I cranked it some more and closed the gap.  I finally caught them just past the Webster Rd underpass.  He was doing regular shoulder checks and saw me behind him.  I waved and he greeted me.

We got separated by slowing down for pedestrians, runners, other cyclists, and a few twisty turns.  Every time we got separated, I pushed to catch them.  This went on through to the back of Alderley/Enoggera.  Separate, catch, separate, catch, separate, catch.  He started egging me on.  "COME ON!!!!!!" he'd yell at me whenever they put 100m or so between us.  I chased them hard.  I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.  I passed other cyclists like they were standing still, but I was running out of steam.  Finally, by the time we got to Everton Park, they were a hundred metres or so in front of me, and I just couldn't catch them anymore.  I was a little disappointed, but I was mostly happy about how I'd given it my all.  And hey, keeping up with them, though laden down with panniers and all my crap (bar laptop), was not a bad effort, given they weren't carrying anything at all.

Then, off in the distance, I saw them turn off the path where I normally turn off.  Maybe I can catch them after all!  We joined Griffith Rd in Everton Park/Mitchelton and by then I was only a car length behind them.  We rode through Brookside and got to the lights.  They filtered through to the front, but I stayed back.  He waved at me, encouraging me to join them, but I was pretty baked by then.  I'd started getting cramps in my left calf, and my resolve was fading fast.  I waved a "thanks, but no thanks" gesture.  The lights turned green, and they took off slowly.  The cars passed them and I rejoined them.  We started chatting.  I asked if they were locals, and it turns out they live only a couple suburbs away.  He was clearly a regular rider, while she looked like she was just getting into it.  All through the ride, he'd been encouraging her, sometimes putting his hand on her back and giving her a bit of a push when she needed it.  She proudly announced that yesterday was the second time she'd ridden all the way into town and all the way back.  I gave her encouragement and wished them well, and thanked them for the ride.  We said our goodbyes, and parted ways.

When I got home, my legs were jelly, but I felt fantastic.  MaxBabe exclaimed, "You're home early!  I didn't expect you here so fast!". 

I told her the story, and all she could say was, "I can't believe you did that in this heat.".  That's my girl!!