Solo 40 miles today. Just doing my thing on the way up and not many riders. But once I got to the dam, I had caught up to some guy. At the dam, he started the climb first but I was gaining on him the first half.
I wasn't trying to race him but then he kept looking back several times. So screw it, I made sure to catch him before the top. Once we leveled ou, he took off like he was in the TDF. I just did my thing again but before we reached the entry booths to the park, I passed him but he hopped on my wheel. Ok tough guy.
So I slowed down, way down but he wouldn't go around. So I slowed down to 5 mph then he went around. I just hung back and let him hang out front for a few miles.
Heading up towards the top I thought he might exit at Encanto Park so 100 yards before we hit the turn off, I hammered as hard as I could dropping him back about 20 yards. He kept trying to catch up but I kept on leaving him back about 100 yards.
Close to the top, I slowed down giving him a chance to catch up. He tried to take my wheel again but I slowed way down once more forcing him to pass. He started doing pretty good as I saw him put his head down to hammer.
He did surprise me a bit so I fell back some so just returned to my pace. As I expected, I started to gain again but when I recovered and knew I could pass him again, I held back. He was still trying to hammer but now I was just measuring him up for the final kill.
So about 1/2 mile from the top, I pulled up a bit to see what he'd do. Sure enough he kept looking over his shoulder every 15 seconds.
So I waited then put the hammer down and went around. Sure enough the clown took my wheel again. But I got to the end of the trail with about 10 yards. I sat up to make my stop but he sprinted around in that 10 yards. What an idiot, surprised he didn't hit the fence at the end of the trai
But anyway, catching someone from far back then trying to sprint around at the end to finish 1/4 of a bike length is kind of silly.
So I headed back down to Encanto Park but decided to keep going back up. To some canyon road with a rock quarry. Lousy road wasn't worth it. Trying to take it easy going slow was enough to bounce out one of my bottles. Won't be doing that again.
At the end of my ride, packing up, Salvador stopped by to say hello. He had ridden by but then doubled back after noticing me at my truck.
Had another good chat about bikes and life. Always good chatting with Salvador.
Gina didn't ride, but she enjoyed my rewards once again. 🤣
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