Booty Ride Part 2

So after we got all dried out and they reopened the booty route (and we had our fill of watching the crappy remake of The Longest Yard) Luke and I went back out. We were both drowsy and about ready to call it a night, so we knew we had to get a move on. We moved our trashed tent to the side and I got out towels I'd brought and started drying things off. We stocked up on food and drink and got back out on the course.

It took a couple laps but we started waking up and getting back into a grove. We knocked out another 20 miles and then I got a call from my friend Hank. Luke and I pulled over and I called him back, he and Mary Ann had come out to visit and cheer us on. Just as we pulled over we saw Tom. We had been wondering when he was going to show up. It turns out he'd been riding for a while and we just didn't find each other. The three of us continued the lap and I came really close to crashing. I let my tires slip off the road and on to the shoulder a bit, I'm still not sure how I stayed on the bike and didn't slam into Luke and Tom. It was a pretty careless mistake on my part. As we pulled around to head back to the camp area and meet up with our friends we saw Steve had arrived as well. Tom decided to keep riding and we told Steve to catch him. So those two went out for more laps and Luke and I took a break.

After a while we went back out, we found Tom and Steve and decided it was time to ramble! The four of us make up a bike gang. We call ourselves the Midnight Ramblers (which was also the name of the Observer's booty team). We did a lap together but soon Steve took off and I didn't even try to fallow. Luke did though. So Tom and I went at a more "comfortable" pace (that means slow). We rode a couple laps and then Tom needed to stop to fill up his bottle. I decided to keep going and went out solo. But Luke and Steve were waiting for us at the start/finish line. Steve went back with Tom and Luke chased after me. It was crazy how the riding partners kept switching up, but that's good. At an event like this one of the biggest obstacles is just trying not to be bored out or your mind. Good conversation is a must.

Luke said he tried to catch me on this climb and almost had me at the top, but I poured on a couple little accelerations and he said "screw that." He caught up with me a bit later. That made me feel really good to hear because Luke is an animal on the climbs. He rides a single speed fixed gear bike. Here's what that means to non-bike geeks: He has one gear and can't shift to an easier one on hills, and if his bike is moving his pedals have to move, no coasting allowed. So knowing I was going up the hill fast enough for him to say it wasn't worth the effort to catch me really did mean something. Luke and I did a couple laps and then needed to stop for a "natural break" as they call it in the Tour de France. Tom and Steve had gone back out on the course by the time we took our breather. We were at about 65 miles. I wanted to try and hit 75 before calling it a night, but Luke was done and went into chill mode.

After only a short break I thought it'd be better to get back up and knock out the last few laps before I got too tired. By that time Tom had come back. He said he'd ride with me as long as we didn't go fast. I was more than happy to oblige. We went up the little hill and I felt really good at the top. We didn't go fast, but it was a consistent pace and my legs didn't burn much. I thought I'd get those last couple laps easy. But fate intervened.

It was past 3 a.m. by this point and we noticed there were bats flying around the street lights. Probably to get at the bugs flocking to the lights. I was telling Tom about the time a bat got into my bedroom in college and thwacked against the wall by my bed. It fell on my pillow and I crawled out of my room screaming. Tom and I were discussing whether or not it was an army crawl when BAM! A bat flew right into the top of my head! This was too crazy to believe. I kind of swung my hands all around my head to make sure it was not stuck to my helmet. How was I able to stay upright and not crash? I don't know. We looked at each other and agreed, "That's it! Riding is done for the night."

We went back in and told everyone what had happened. Steve decided to pound out a couple more laps to reach 50 miles on the night since he had been at work for the first couple hours and got a late start. Tom and I rode home. We kind of forgot that a massive storm had moved through just a couple hours before. Once we were on neighborhood roads off the booty course we remembered though. Hundreds of cyclists hadn't been riding on these roads to smash up all the fallen sticks and branches. On the trip home we saw a guy who runs with the Lucky Cycles crowd. He was walking back after doing some crazy number of laps. He recognized us as "the Observer guys."

We ride past Lucky Cycles bike shop every night and in the summer there are sometimes late night gatherings going on there. I once was at a stop light next to this cyclist and he asked me if I was one of the guys who rides by Lucky late at night. After I confirmed I was he asked what the heck we were doing out there. Ever since I told him we were commuting from the paper those guys yell "Yeah, Observer!!" when we ride by.

Tom and I turned up another road and were almost home. We saw a car ahead heading our direction. We went single file and moved to the right as much as we could. All of a sudden we noticed a big branch had fallen in the road and we were headed right for it. The headlights from the car had made it hard to see and we didn't realize the branch was there until we were almost on top of it. Tom slammed on his brakes and moved left. I was behind him and pretty much copied him. Again we were lucky and didn't crash.

It was pretty much smooth sailing after that. After a shower I went to bed. It was well after 4 and my body was happy to stop moving. (to be continued ...)



That's me re-enacting what I looked like when the bat hit me.