chuckhardesty

For my rider friends from XC -12

 

In many ways, this was like doing two rides. This time, I had a new set of friends and was able to experience certain aspects that I had not seen before as to landscape, local citizens, and places of interest. The weather was entirely different with more headwinds and many rainy days but overall less heat and humidity. So I was able to experience things that I missed before.

 

However, there was another angle that I had never contemplated and that was how I relived the ride of 2012. Memories that were latent quickly rose to the surface in hotel lobbies, restaurants, scenic spots, SAGs, tough climbs, state lines, route rap, obscure stretches of road and roadside attractions. To steal a quote from The Field of Dreams:

” And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. … it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh… people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.”

Certainly much of it is gone and lost but a lot of memories resurfaced along the way and most of it was related to the people I rode with:

 

• Having lunch at Alice’s Restaurant (since closed) in Jerome with 5 other riders
• Singing “Happy Birthday” to Larry at least once a week.
• Wine after a ride with Patty and Cindy by the pool
• Cerebral discussion with Mike K in Ohio on blogs (most discussions with Mike were either cerebral or right out of SlingBlade)
• Harry and I getting scolded in NY for disobeying orders from the boss
• Lunch in Santa Fe with Cindy, Patty and John
• Hearing scary tales from Roberta, Jeff and Nick about past adventures
• The boat ride in Erie with Mike, Roberta and Jeff
• News crew in Erie lobby
• Waiting for rain to stop in Quincy
• The ladies hiding my bike in the ladies room
• Mike F’s bike with a f”or sale sign
• Drinking beer with the Brits (don’t try to keep up)
• Severe headwinds in Dalhart and cattle
• Tom saying at prayer at Revere Beach while holding his bike and gazing out on the ocean
• John falling asleep in a DQ in Chillicothe
• The mechanic who fixed Mike F’s bike in Little Falls for free
• Nick seeing a chipmunk and thinking it was a rat at an outdoor restaurant in Brattleboro
• Having a beer with Patty in Brattleboro while the bike shop replaced my handlebars
• Seeing a work friend in Prescott and then some others in Quincy
• Riding with Ed on a 7 mile climb
• Hearing Julie’s stories riding to Grants
• Walking our bikes through construction zones (now repaired)
• The freezing morning weather in Las Vegas
• Nick getting a huge strawberry on his leg from a crash.
• Barry and Wendy getting to St. Joe’s
• Broken wheels and flat tires
• Nick thinking that I suffered from heat prostration when I hit a huge pothole and ran into the desert

 

As I said, many of these I had forgotten but when I saw the area again, they came back. Some of the2014 riders wondered why I stopped in route or looked at table in a restaurant or double- hecked the lobby. It was because I was seeing friends from the past and expecting them to come around the corner at any moment.

 

Of course, Tracy, Tom, Rick, Carol and Robin were the constant from 2012 and Daryl came back for his 6^th and final week of riding.

So some folks question doing the same ride over, but to meit was the Field of Dreams…

 

Tailwinds

Chuck