Repraise

It's funny how life brings things back around. In 2010 I drove down to

San Diego and spent my first Christmas in California riding Mt Palomar followed the next day by this incredible descent called The Glass Elevator. In 2010 I was a broken soul on my way to healing. Now, exactly 6 years and 1 day later I found myself back on the Glass Elevator, at the end of another relationship and yet firmly established in California and much healthier in my soul as well. It seemed especially fated because for 5 of those years, I had been off my bike. I hung up my bike literally the day before I met Richie Porte, and started riding again a few months ago... almost 6 years to the day after I arrived in California. I'm telling you, this sort of timing only happens in novels. It seemed fated. 

Everybody (or nearly everybody, anyway) left together this morning, but all the potholes and shit in the road washed there by the snow made me antsy to have open road ahead of me. So after a couple of miles I just rode away from everybody up a hill. I would ride a few miles with others here and there for the rest of the day, but for around 6 hours I was completely alone. 

The route took me up and over a mountain with snow-covered meadows and icy winds. I was wearing one of those fancy wind-stopper kits and thick neoprene gloves that I could never afford when I used to ride, and I constantly wondered at how I used to ride in Boston through snow storms and in freezing temperatures without a second thought. How the hell did I do that?!?! If I didn't have all the best gear on, I would have been miserable!

Actually, with the heavy winds, the snow and the long climb I was surprised I wasn't miserable anyway. As it was, I was practically euphoric. Sure, I would have liked a lot less snow and wind, but every time I got grumpy all I had to do was look up and the grouchiness just fell off me. You should know (if you don't already) that this cheeriness is not my natural disposition. 

I stopped for lunch and 2 Companions that I'd shared a few miles with yesterday materialized. We discussed taking a side route that added a few miles, but cut out a dangerous and non-scenic road. I said I was going to take it. Male Companion said he would stick to the cue sheet. Female Companion shivered and thought about triathlons. Or that's what I guess she was thinking about because when we parted ways a few miles later I heard he shout, "IS THIS THE WAY?!?!" Aw shit. Come on. 

I had been enjoying my alone time, and didn't really feel like babysitting someone who wasn't paying attention. I especially didn't feel like spending the next 12+ miles playing the triathlete dick measuring game. After a few minutes of climbing and polite conversation I took a pull and went to my happy place alone in front. After a few minutes she pulled up next to me, "So where should I go if you drop me?" I went back and forth with myself for a few minutes. Do I do the nice thing and wait so that we can ride together, or give her directions and ride at my own pace? I gave her directions. She had Google Maps. She had a cue sheet and a route map. She could distract herself from triathlons long enough to find her way home... right?

A minute or two later, I heard her call out "car back!" Once the car was clear, I looked back. She was already about 30 yards behind me. I slowed down so she could catch up. She didn't. I figured we were on the same page and rode on, back in my solo happy place. 

I dropped down off the side road and rejoined the highway. After a few minutes, I saw a sign that said "Hwy 76." Hey, wait. Am I dyslexic? I thought I was supposed to be on 79. I pulled over, pulled out the map and breathed a sigh of relief. 76 would meet up with 79 in a couple of miles. So I kept riding... and riding... and riding. I thought something might be wrong but the wind was at my back, I was on a slight downhill, and I kept convincing myself the intersection would be around the next bend... or the next... or the next? I had gone 5 miles in the wrong direction, downhill and downwind before I finally looked closer at the map and realized I'd gone the wrong way. Well shit. 

And that was when the low battery beeps started on my Garmin. I had gotten lost, my Garmin wasn't going to make it to the last climb, let alone all the way to the finish but I was still ebullient. I started making up songs and singing them in funny voices to keep myself entertained. 

Once I was back on track I did turn into a vicious crosswind that threw me a few feet across the shoulder, and then into a sucking headwind that could have stopped my bike short if I'd tried to coast. But eventually I turned up the final climb and even the headwind couldn't bring me down. I climbed for 12 miles singing (to the tune if If You're Happy and You Know It):

I've got 8 or 9 miles to the top!

I've got 8 or 9 miles to the top!

I've got 8 or 9 miles then I'm really gonna drrrrrop... (sung in funny dramatic voice)

I've got 8 or 9 miles to the top!

With about a mile to the summit, I heard a shout from the side of the road. "You want some water?!" Shouted one of my new friends waving a jug above his head from the stoop of one of those mini marts that you find in towns with only a handful of residents in the back of beyond. It looked like the sort of place where Yosemite Sam would do his grocery shopping when he couldn't drive the 2 hours out to the Wal Mart.

"I'ma push through to the end!" I shouted. I could see where the road dropped off the edge of the world. 

The Glass Elevator is a 10+ mile descent that drops off the plateau thousands of feet above straight into the desert. It is perfectly paved and perfectly graded so you hardly have to touch your brakes, and you get expansive views of the valley and the boulder-covered mountains. Once I started the descent, nothing could dampen my spirit. No shit. I was singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" at the top of my voice. I didn't want it to end. 

I wish I could bottle up today -- every minute of it -- and uncork it every time I felt down on myself. Moments like today on that mountain are what life really is all about. I'll forget that when I'm back in the real world. Remind me.