Mt. Nemesis before breakfast

Got up just before dawn today, the sky gray not with clouds but with lingering night, the birds just beginning to stir, soft morning breezes slipping past. Headed out for my hill run. Few cars, most traffic lights still on flashing reds and yellows. Felt pretty good, the Mineral Point hills made their presence known, but manageable. The cemetery lawn glistening as the sun rose, sparkles on the tombstones and the statues. The bluing sky dotted with pale white clouds. The liquid trill of robins.

At and around the hospital, traffic began picking up, cars, bikes, and pedestrians. As I rounded the last bend toward the turn to Nemesis, I thought about the guy who passed me the other day, the one I re-passed on the climb. At that moment it happened again, another, younger guy, in matching jersey and shorts, who shot past without a sound and, I suddenly realized, without the faint chain chatter of the other guy, which had led me to suspect the other, first, guy had been more of a wannabe than a strong rider. Not this new guy. He turned toward the Mount and attacked it, riding hard and, halfway up, standing in the saddle and thrusting up the hill. By the time I reached the first summit, he was gone. As for me, I had climbed at a good rate, better than I recalled, and perhaps not even dropping into granny. I say perhaps, because when I reached the first summit, I shifted the wrong way, so that I couldn't tell for sure what gear I had been in during the climb. But no matter, really, I know I climbed well.

A peaceful ride home, a good breakfast and shower, and the day at last began.


This afternoon the Centurion route was posted and, just as I suspected, it will loop around the Mt. Horeb area. So I feel good that I know the route, and I feel a bit apprehensive, because, I know the route, and it will be hard. But that's the point, innit? We shall see.

Can't close here without mentioning last Sunday's ride with Anna, six or so miles up and down the Southwest Trail, beginning at Regent Street and riding up to Midvale, then back again. Nothing challenging, but a good ride for her. She spent much of the ride filling me in about manga books, especially her favorite series, with a few side trips into teenage theology and philosophy. Saw squirrels and rabbits and birds, oh my. And I saw how careless people can be on the trails, lost in their earphone worlds, or flashing past with inches to spare. But then, one can't protect them from life, can one?