The Excuse Ride or: How I learned to stop worrying and appreciate mediocrity

Ry-daddy already rode 18 miles this morning....and wanted more.  I wanted to go big today, but my lungs left me wanting more air.  I compromised by just doing Pass Mountain...

I never felt right....but how right can you feel when ones lungs are in an asmathatic fire storm?  Apparently, a lot worse than you think.  On the climb up the west side, my legs felt dead....springless....uncommanding....lame.  The knowledge that this was Ry's first pass ride and he had already done 18 on SoMo this morning drove me to continue on.

Running on low before we even turned to the east, I relished the short but sweet buff singletrack hugging the north side of the mountain, knowing that round 2 was coming up...the rocky approach to the Pass.  Ry described the trail as Chunky Soup....all I could think of was that my Delta Tau Chi nickname was "Flounder".....hrmmmm.... Campbell's Chunky Soup with Flounder.....

Topping out on the saddle, Ry wanted me to lead the descent....I told him I went over the cliff last time and had to be helped up by a stranger as I held on by a small, thorny shrub anchored into the rock....I thought to tell him to take the high line on everything and he would be fine....but my mouth was tired.

Finding the descent was a mixed blessing....extra chunky from the spring rains combined by a slow prison-rape of the trail handed out by the equestrians, I struggled to find flow.  Crashing once on a boulder, I looked down to see the white of my shin bone....I reached down to jiggle the loose skin on either side of the gash only to realize that it was not bone....just the silverskin / facia that seperates my skin from my bone....cool....good news.  It's funny that sometimes I bomb this trail...floating over the chunk, angels singing, birds envious of the sonata on wheels that I am...and sometimes...I stall on every front-wheel trap out there....this was the day I was having.  I was Tommy Boy out there.....Fat Man in Little Coat....and I wreaked of pine-scented car freshener.  I stopped to take a pic of Ry more than a few times....not that I'm generous...I was just losing my flow and needed an excuse to get my shit together.  I almost blacked out at this point, cramps assaulting my quad's and abs....the shadows were closing in on the periphery of my vision as Ry asked if I was ok....and then they went away....whewwwwww....never had that happen to me on a ride before.

Riding away from the park and looking forward to the downhill to the beer waiting at Joe's....we were thrown a final insult by a strong west wind.  The beer at Joe's failed to satisfy....one third the way through my Arrogant Bastard....I felt like puking.  I actually considered leaving it on the table....yup...it was that kind of ride.