Relativity, Take 2

On Friday, a coworker was nice enough to take myself and another new Big S recruit out on a longer local loop: Cañada Road.

Three aspects of this route made it an appealing addition to my repertoire:

1) It was longer than a usual loop.

2) It had the possibility of a brutal headwind on the return (timing this ride was tricky).

3) It had a nice climb and gorgeous scenery .

So as we headed out into a headwind, numbers 2 and 3 seemed to be spot on. Straight south to Gilroy , turn onto Roop Road, and then begin the climb up and up and up.

As I climbed, I decided to just spin in the little ring as best I could. It wasn't horrible, but it was no Greensboro Lake Brandt Road.

It was a Cat 3 climb.

I arrived at the top, finally, and got the big pay off of scenery. Take a camera, stick it into the air, and press the shutter to get a kodak moment. One of those roads.

It wound its way steadily, slightly, upwards as we all three talked and looked around and just had a lovely time. Then Rosie turned to us and said, "Ok, it rounds a bend up here and then starts to just go down, so hang on!"

Now the last time I had a descent of any real consequence, on Hanging Rock, I gripped my brakes so tightly I thought my hands would cramp up. This time, I decided to go for it a little bit more. Relax. Breath.

I tucked down into the drops, and turned the corner...

Was I Voeckler? No.

But did I have fun?

YES.

I bombed down that hill as fast as I've ever bombed down a hill before. Off course there were sections that had blind corners, where I slowed a little too much, but whenever possible I tried to simply breath, countersteer, and zoom.

When I got to the bottom, after a pretty good amount of time, I had a grin that was hard pressed to leave my face. A complete 180 from a year ago (I know, right? Just about a year ago) on Hanging Rock.

The ride home had conversation, a tailwind, a gorgeous sunset, and perfect temperatures.

So yes, things are relative. In Greensboro, the riding was Vanilla. A little up, a little down, a little up, a little down, a little wind, a little view, wash, rinse, repeat.

Here, you get exactly what you give. Give big, get big. Suffer like a masochist up a climb, get a fantastic, breathtaking trip back down. Ride in a leg melting headwind on the way out, practically get pushed all the way home.

Here, the riding is Rocky Road.

Now please don't get confused and think that I don't like Greensboro because of this fact. Greensboro is much much more than just the roads, it's the amazing people and friendships I made there, the camaraderie, the well honed routes and roads so familiar you don't even have to look for the rough patches.

I'm just super psyched to get a new flavor.