Riding with Friends

Yesterday I rode 80 miles in the canyons outside Malibu with a bunch of friends. Some I see pretty often, but more that I hardly ever see. I could go into minute detail about how it was a great ride and how much fun I had, but I think I’ll skip that. What stuck with me the most was how strangely nice it is having these friends that you don’t ever see around and being able to pick up conversations just like you were riding together yesterday. I’ll use Mike Kloser as an example. I haven’t seen Mike for years. Probably over 5 and maybe closer to 10. I rode the last 2 hours of the ride with him and it was great. Of course, I’ve been following what Mike’s been doing since he retired from MTB racing, but we didn’t go into that much. (If you want to see a crazy impressive resume, just click on his name.) We just talked about normal stuff, the ride last year, his son’s MTB racing, etc. I didn’t hang out with Mike too much when we raced together. The first year I raced MTB bikes, he showed me the ropes of how to change all your cables after every race and how to prepared your equipment properly. But, after that we just raced. But, since we shared so many of the same experiences, it seems like we are sort of “bonded” by that. Maybe that isn’t exactly the correct word, but it seems right now. Anyway, this ride had a bunch of those guys on it. People that have been riding their bikes for most of their lives and still appreciate it nearly as much now as they did when they competed full time. Those are my people and I truly appreciate it more than I knew. Strange. Here is the day in pictures-

Walking in downtown Camarillo at sunrise to get breakfast.

Running into Zap nearly first thing when I got to the ride. The ride was a benefit for him and his family.

I think there were close to 600 people riding.

Jimmy Mac following the ride on his motorcycle.

Trivia ? of the day. Name the five riders in this picture that have been my team mates on the Raleigh Team.

I rode the last 40 miles in a small group with Mike Kloser, left, and Don Sutton, right.

John Tomac, Zap and Ned afterwards.

Andy signing posters when the ride was over.