honey ... what do you wanna do tonite?

6pm: basecamp

The Perfect Storm has brewed up at least 3 dozen hillbilly visitors, snuffy-puff localites, and sundry smilin' spandexers at basecamp for a mid-week, post work hootzpah up the mountain and down the single-track.

All outlaw, but all good apparently. Dunno, i was just there to get laid.

- - -

Me n' the honey start off on our loop ... it's a many mile fire-road climb snaking through Redwoods and Ferns growing to the tunes of 7 different kumbayas. It's a climb that eventually tops out at a beauty bit of view then hops you onto a secret garden single-track descent back to the lowlands. A couple minutes after we roll away from the parking lot poseidon, the ground rumbles underneath from the hooves and snorts of a horde of manlies storming up from behind. They have that excited, high-pitched glow more reminiscent of the opening throttle pull of a Bass Fishing Tourney ... but it's cute to see, nonetheless.

The herd stampedes past us on the flattish approach and I hop back behind the woman to see what she'll make of it.

"We'll pick 'em off on the climb."

- - -

I'm shuttled in behind her as we hump it up the climb.

mmm...

Her pedalstroke only occassionally reverts to that piston-masher past ... overall, she looks very clean, very smooth. I can tell she has another gear to use, but it's a long climb and she's pacing herself well and riding a steady-high effort level. best training.

We roll up on man-boy after man-boy. Some smile and wave under sweatened brow and return back to their own pace-making, while some shout out a 'hi' built for defenses and slam down on accelerators to match her pace or get themselves back in front.

It makes me smile.

There are a couple of boys in the final mile that dig out dueling pistols and really work to put her down. But, she knows the trail and squirts them in the eye on a nasty little bend and throws down her own secretly-saved acceleration. I sit back behind the two, watching to see if they'll close the gap.

2 bike lengths, 3 bike lengths ... she's gone.

but she's not competitive.

and neither are they.