Friday, August 1, 2008

My elbows are sore

My eyes have been opened a bit. I did the weekly "POO Ride" (Port of Oakland Ride) crit last Tuesday. Ever since high school track and field, I've known I was faster than average, something that's transmitted to bicycling.

That did not mean shit last Tuesday. I was more or less smoked by everybody at that ride, man, woman, child.

I ran into Nick, a CAT 2 or 3 racer who was doing some part time building bikes at Bike Nut last month who was riding with the somewhat famous DFL Brad who took this video during one of the early laps. I can't tell if I'm in it or not, it might have been one of the warm up laps:



I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to the next one. And the one after that.

On Thursday I rode up to the top of Mt. Tam with Grey, a long time messenger now at Jetset and ex CAT 2 racer. I'm always amazed at how beautiful the scenery gets after just a few hours of riding in the Bay Area and I'm from here. The ride was mellow, with Grey on a steel frame cross bike probably taking it easy on me. Throughly enjoyable.

Highly photoshopped view from Tam taken from WarzauWynn's flickr without permission:

mt tam

4 comments:

Daniel Austin Hoherd said...

Actually, the photo isn't all that photoshopped. The sun and lens flare are natural. It's just tone-mapped to allow your eyes to see the full contrast of light.

One of these days I'd love to ride to the top of Mt. Tam... one of these days. :)

Anonymous said...

you'll get faster - I have no doubt you could win these races if you wanted.

David Decimal said...

hey Ryan -

let's get out and hit the road sometime. I'm always looking for recreational riders who i don't want to hold back - i'm quick enough, and get it done.

I didn't know you've only been riding for a few years...i really just started riding roadies since i started mess'ing 4 years ago.

nate c. said...

those POO rides look intense! you're sure to get faster each week.