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| Eagle Wing and John |
Now it's a 9 and half hour drive, and I got to tell you - it's a long long day driving. But I got some comp-time, mainly from a few weekends of working with a consultant for The College, so I ended up with four full days in Dog Mtn.
About now you'd also be seeing photos of Le Tigre - my fast friend, and quintessential Tucson Cyclist - but Your's forgot to bring his helmet and his shoes - so that shut down any kind of ride with him. Always a good sport, Le T rode up to Dog Mtn to say hi; I was doing yard work and he rode all the way up from downtown. Anyway, the day we did plan on riding, it became breezy and dusty - so it would have been a slog, and I was making some head-way on my yard work at the Dog Mtn House.
Wing is back in the saddle I'm happy to report, Gentle Readers of This Blog! And, as always, he tends to inspire us to get off our butts and do something. So Wing has a Men's Group he's started up, and a bike ride was planned. John loaned me a helmet and brought over some pedals allowing me to ride along with the boys.
The ride was planned around one bloke who wanted to make the ride at 2 o'clock in the afternoon - seems a bit late for me and for John (for Wing too - we're morning people) and of course, last minute that guy didn't show up - but we rode anyway.
John, Wing, a very cool friend of Wing's named David, I were all on the bikes and heading down Tucson's now completed "Loop." You can ride all around the city by bike - no traffic, no worries, and friendly people like yourself just out enjoying the sunshine.
What I didn't know is that Wing had recently had Gastric Bypass Surgery. His stomach is about the size of a golf ball. I would say, from my old medical library days, that this is major surgery - one week after Wing does 10 miles on the bike. Two weeks after, 20 miles. Now week three, what the hell let's do 40 miles Fellahs!
I was like, "Wing, do you think that's a good idea?" John is a DVM - but if anything happened to Wing, John could only crop his ears and stick a thermometer up Eagle Wing's butt. Still, I felt that 40 miles might be pushing it.
Okay, to make a long story short, we were all riding along, chatting and having a great time - catching up and talking about revising our plans to ride some brevets, or even do the Triple Crown - something that Eagle Wing has really wanted to do. After all, Wing did ride from Tucson to Iowa, and then ride RAGBRI - Dang! But as we sped along, it suddenly became apparent that Wing was no longer with us - we had dropped him!
So we slow down and stop and wait for Wing to be there - but - mes amis, Wing was not to be seen. We waited and then waited some more. Wing, our friend and inspiration had disappeared. John was trying to call him, David and I headed back, and I think we rode what seemed an eternity-several miles, on this stretch of Bike Path, there was nothing but desert on one side, and the Gentle Santa Cruz River. Reeds and tall grass swayed in the afternoon heat. Did Eric slip into the river? (to vomit or something?) I was getting worried. Wing rides and takes on life with gusto! But having the runs in the heat of the day in Tucson, Gentle Readers of This Blog, is a recipe for disaster.
Not sure but finally, finally after about four miles of riding up and down the path, Eagle Wing is spotted coming out of a porta john by a ball field. How John and David spied him I will never know but slowly Wing pulled up and reported that he was "better" and we rode on. Actually we were taking it easy when Wing just shot up and go way ahead of us.
Surprised, the three of us caught up and we were all riding in a group, all talking and laughing - and suddenly - where is Eric? We dropped him again. So this time we rode back, got Wing, and headed back the parking lot where we started. Oh yeah, by this time we had a tailwind so that helped us out.
I have to say that I've not been writing on the blog for a few months - work has piled up on me, and in Colorado it either was raining or snowing up on my new routes.
I am happy to report that Eric has lost 100 pounds - that is awesome! This I got from John. We plan to get a ride together soon!
Thanks for reading the Blog! Cheers! Bruce
So we slow down and stop and wait for Wing to be there - but - mes amis, Wing was not to be seen. We waited and then waited some more. Wing, our friend and inspiration had disappeared. John was trying to call him, David and I headed back, and I think we rode what seemed an eternity-several miles, on this stretch of Bike Path, there was nothing but desert on one side, and the Gentle Santa Cruz River. Reeds and tall grass swayed in the afternoon heat. Did Eric slip into the river? (to vomit or something?) I was getting worried. Wing rides and takes on life with gusto! But having the runs in the heat of the day in Tucson, Gentle Readers of This Blog, is a recipe for disaster.
Not sure but finally, finally after about four miles of riding up and down the path, Eagle Wing is spotted coming out of a porta john by a ball field. How John and David spied him I will never know but slowly Wing pulled up and reported that he was "better" and we rode on. Actually we were taking it easy when Wing just shot up and go way ahead of us.
Surprised, the three of us caught up and we were all riding in a group, all talking and laughing - and suddenly - where is Eric? We dropped him again. So this time we rode back, got Wing, and headed back the parking lot where we started. Oh yeah, by this time we had a tailwind so that helped us out.
I have to say that I've not been writing on the blog for a few months - work has piled up on me, and in Colorado it either was raining or snowing up on my new routes.
I am happy to report that Eric has lost 100 pounds - that is awesome! This I got from John. We plan to get a ride together soon!
Thanks for reading the Blog! Cheers! Bruce
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