Roadside Distractions

Six races left to go on the season. It's that time of the year where I start to think about the next season. I think about things that I did well this year and things that I can improve on. However, I cannot let those thoughts get to me because the races to come are pretty tough and my chances are good. Tomorrow is my last day of work before my vacation begins. I've been looking forward to these two weeks off since I went to North Carolina back in what seems like another lifetime.

There is a racing website that talks about daily distractions. Basically it's about cycling and hot chicks that either race or find themselves along our race courses. The best/worst that I've been personally witness to were the "townies" oiled up and in bikinis at the Hagerstown crit this summer. Their "site" on the side of the road made it easier to throw down 600-700 watts through the corner away from those "beauties."

Yesterday I was out on my daily constitutional a/k/a/ my training ride. I was putting in a pretty good steady state workout where I ride at a wattage in a decently elevated range and hold it for a while. Yesterday my workout was a pair of 25 minute intervals. About halfway into the second one I found myself going up a steady incline and passed a bus stop. This particular time a girl was standing there who flagged me down as I passed. As a good American I stopped to help.

She was lost, really lost. The strangest thing about this situation was that she really didn't know where she wanted to go. She gave me three different locations that she "needed" to go to and was terribly unsatisfied by any of my suggestions, which typically ended with "well you can walk there in about 30 minutes or you can stay here and wait for a bus that probably won't come for an hour."

I really think she wanted to hitch a ride on my handlebars. Honestly, she was just big enough that she could probably have done so without adding 60 lbs. Fully grown she wasn't as tall as me when I was sitting on my top tube. I left her on the side of the road to head off to the Giant which was about 7 blocks away. I had grown so frustrated with her indecision that I thought maybe someone there could figure it out. I gave her directions, let her make two phone calls on my cell and offered to wave down a cab. None of these made her happy.

I headed off to finish my interval after about ten minutes. I hope for her sake that she found what she was looking for. Any cyclist will tell you that there are a lot of fun things on the side of the road. You'd be amazed by the random articles of clothing, magazines, furniture and in a couple cases (back in Mississippi) appliances. Once in Texas I ran across a great new baseball hat. Jed, of course has the best road side find--a wrapped porn DVD. However, the one thing that amazes me is the number of times I run across a single shoe on the side of the road. I mean you would imagine that unlike a glove or a t-shirt that you would probably miss a shoe if it fell off while you were driving, right?