You may remember how well I handled myself when I was passed by Santa when I was going uphill in the Jingle Bell Triathlon last year. There are some things that leave lasting scars!
NEVER MIND that today my riding goal was to ride for speed........those of you who know me know that when a skinny size 8 passes me they have no idea that they have just thrown down the gauntlet. They become the rabbit and me the greyhound on the track....who just might be thinking of having them for dinner.....no I am not competitive! My mom always said that!
NEVER MIND that it is unlikely I will ever catch that blue blurr.......it is the TRYING that counts! And try I did as she took off down into the speed zone that is the straight and flat (mostly) path of the bosque that runs along our Rio Grande river!
I told myself to amp it up and that I did and came within 2 bike lengths of her. There were several times I could have passed her as I just coasted along her...but I thought,.,,,why pass her now when she will just pass me going uphill later and that will really piss me off! Soon, she stopped and spoke to a woman runner...but soon enough I heard "on your left" and she passed me again. I tried and tried to keep up and there was quite a head wind...I watched her hunker down and thought "if only I can get right on her wheel instead of 2 lengths behind I can draft off her...but alas I could not. We rode on and on until finally we came to an unexpected detour on the path. It was strategically placed at a bridge where we could make an easy turn around. She made it very gracefully, but as I pulled to turn another rider jolted across the bridge, which made me quickly clip out and stop my bike so I would not hit him. After he passed, I made my turn and took off after the rabbit which by now was almost a blue speck on the horizon! Soon enough, I caught sight of the blue and noticed it had stopped again to speak to the runner! AH ha! This was my chance! I whizzed past the man who ruined my graceful turn and my opportunity to catch up....and threw my big chain ring into operation. All I could think about was "will she catch me again? Will that light blue wind breaker catch me or will I make it back and be victorious? My phone rang...it was work. I had to take the call. Then I saw some beautiful photo ops...and had to take a few pics...all the while looking out for that whiz of blue to pass me....but it did not happen.
I got safely back to the open space parking lot and saw her car. I took a picture thinking "I need a memory of this day." Well what do you know? She owns a kennel and specializes in problem dogs! She sure handled this greyhound real well today!
In a minute, I looked and there she was in her light blue wind jacket. We greeted each other and said what a beautiful day it was. I thanked her for being the rabbit for me and I the greyhound chasing the rabbit around the track! She laughed! I asked her if I could take her pic and gave her my blog address. Her name is Deena and she lives in Los Lunas. I invited her to join Women Riding Well and gave her the web address and made a new friend! I hope we get to be friends and get to know each other!cece
