I was given a Cannondale F500 road bike by a friend that already had too many Ti and plastic bikes
to have any use for an aluminim crack n fail. I didn't even touch it for week. Then I had drop of
the wife's car at the shop early Sat, so I decided that the 10 miles back would be a good test of
the road bike thing. Started out from the auto shop very wobbly, thinking that this was going to
take some serious getting used to. The first 9 miles were very easy. Pretty much flat. Experimented
with standing and mashing a bit, but quickly spun out due to the flat ground. (My stand and mash has
a very low redline) Almost home, still no hills. OK, decide on slight detour to to try some hills.
First long hill, there's a guy on a bright yellow Colnago with matching jersey, shoes, socks,
gloves... you get the idea. He's waving to roadies going the other way with that italian palm up
open/close hand wave. I have to try catch him. I took it kinda easy as I didn't want to just pass
him and die. Caught up him half way up. Not tired yet, good. Notice that he's shiny smooth legs. So,
I pull out, pass say hello etc, then head down and start pushing. 20 seconds later I look back. This
guy's stuck on my wheel about 6 inches behind me. upshift 3 and stand. Really push now. Like any
good mountain biker, I have one good sprint in me. I was warmed up, still fresh and this was it. It
felt like I was running in slow motion. The road bike geometry really allows you to stand up,
stretch out and hammer. This felt really good now. Legs, arms, back, everything into it, not killing
any one part prematurely, everything was tiring evenly, this was good. About 40 sec later, the
lactic acid's unbearable, lungs burning, I back off and back, he's about 20 feet behind me. Coast a
bit, spin slowly and wait for him. First thing I notice is his color, he's a bit grey. He's
drooling, there's snot hanging off his chin, and he's weaving. He catches up and says, "Gasp, That
was pretty strong, Gasp, I couldn't hold your Gasp wheel, How long you been riding, Gasp Gasp Gasp".
I couldn't resist, I said "I just got this last week, this is my first time on it. This is kinda fun
huh?" He says "I, uh, um, do you, er, ... what?" I confessed to the whole MTB thing, and he felt
better. The detour was soooo worth it. I rode the rest of the way home with stupid grin that
wouldn't go away. I'm going to have to try that again.
-Bruce