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There's nothing like a good friend

When I got up this morning, I felt like sh@#&! I was just plain tired, made even more so, knowing my latest blood work had me with a hemoglobin of 11.5 g/dl. I was also concerned about the two nose bleeds I had on Sunday and Monday, and wondering if I was going to be able to ride my bike at all this morning.

I couldn't even back out of riding [which at the time I wanted to], as I committed to do Turnbull Canyon, with a friend. So I made the best of it, put on a happy face, and headed out at 7 AM to meet Ed.

From the very moment, I left the house, I felt I was going to have problems. My speedometer was only registering about 16 mph, which was really discouraging as I felt like I was doing 18 or 19 mph, but I persevered anyways. There's no way I was going to ever admit anything was wrong.

So we meet up, and headed for the Whittier foothills. I did my best to keep up with Ed, hoping only that I wouldn't get another nose bleed, and would not fall too far behind on the hills.

As we reached the base of the first hill, Colima and Lambert Roads, Ed was kind enough to ride with me for a little while, but then soon took off on his own. I couldn't keep up. I did manage to catch him at one of the fortuitous traffic lights, and briefly passed him, but he soon went by again.

But then, he slowed down, and I was able to catch and pass him shortly before the top. He did stay with me as we crested the summit, and continued down the other side, so I figured he was just being a nice guy, so I wouldn't feel too bad.

We then continued on our way to the second [and last] hill, the backside of Turnbull Canyon. For the first little bit, Ed road with me, but I was starting to really tire, and told him it was ok to leave me. [I did know the way.] But soon after that Ed started slowing down again, and I was able to catch him, and even pass him.

But this time [I must have gotten a second wind] I kicked it in just a little, as I was passing him, to see if I could drop him, and much to my surprise Ed did not respond. I ended up beating him up the hill by about 30 seconds.

Now I'm not sure if Ed was just being a nice guy, but I didn't really care. It sure made my day, and made the ride back home a lot easier, even with the slight head wind.

Thanks Ed!
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Ed said…
You'll never know if I was just being a nice guy, or if I just couldn't keep up with you. Maybe the 30 second gap you made in the last 1000 meters is ahint....
12:51 AM
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