Riding with the Boys

My brother has recently started riding bikes. Despite coming to the sport in his fifties, he has really taken to it. So it was quite exciting that during my recent trip home, I got to ride with him and his buddies.

Upon joining the group…my first reaction was “Wow – and I thought girls spent a lot of money on their riding ensembles”. Clearly, it’s important to look good at 6 in the morning in Southern Indiana when not another living soul is awake to see you. Who knew they even made NASCAR biking apparel? Having not packed appropriately for the trip, I tried to ignore the fact that I was wearing one of dad’s old t-shirts and a set of knee socks.

I did notice that in between their 19 mph pace…there was a lot of banter about why my brother had to cut his ride short for an antique show. Then they quickly settled into a discussion about how they never get to ride very much…but that was mostly in between discussions of their Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday and weekday rides.

But if any of you are trying to feel better about your biking…might I suggest that you spend an entire ride drafting off some solid, 6’3” joe of a biker in Southern Indiana. I only had to peddle about once every six strokes and still managed 19 mph. Those tiny little bitches in California never create THAT kind of slipstream. But these guys really ARE great - there’s even a post-ride newsletter…but it mostly recounts the wrecks during the ride and includes helpful hints like “broken collarbones – fact or fiction”.