Ian Butler wrote:
This is so familiar. 5km to the school and pretending you're riding the Giro or something while doing it.

Aah, the good old times

Chapter 1: The Beginnings
V: A Love Affair, Pt.1

Try as it might the mercury wasn't going to reach 100 this day but that meant we were still deep in the 90s and with very little wind. The other saving grace, you look for small ones where you can with Texan weather, was low humidty which of course balanced out by being a dry heat. No escaping the weather and the shade, what little there was, would still be pushin 90 as well. Heading over the club ride start point I was just asking who would want to go out in this!



Clearly I was wanting to. Everyone from school would be crashed under an AC unit or dunked in a pool, and my GPA says I was smart enough to do that as well. In something like two and a half months i'd become some kind of freak obsessive and like for serial killers the fantasy would no longer sufice. Bike was all ready and I had the requisite set of tools packed into my jersey. No backing out now.

Chapter 1: The Beginnings
V: A Love Affair, Pt.2

All told there were about 20-25 people for the ride. It was made clear at the start that the pace would be kept low due to the heat and that everyone must have two full bottles of water with them. I was introduced to a couple of members who would check on me and make sure I was coping ok. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming but I put that down, in part, to being from a small town where everyone is always nice.

We started out on a 10mile loop to begin with. Heading out into the surrounding countryside the roads were as flat as you'd expect. Easy going really as chat flowed around the group. They covered all sorts from a general catch-up on their weeks through to the happenings in the pro-cycling world. I was loving every momeny! I was nicely relaxed and got chatting to the only other two females there.



45minutes later we rolled back to the start, averaging 13mph. A good speed but not strenuous for that amount of time. About 10 of them were going to stick around for longer ride but I wasn't. I'd had my introduction to the club and they were happy enough to have me back for next weekends ride. After that, though, i'd have to become a member to keep riding with them. No issue for me and I couldn't wait.

TheManxMissile wrote:
13mph.

Chapter 1: The Beginnings
VI: Summer of '09, Pt.1

July took on a pretty set pattern from there. No rush to wake up but when I did it was straight to the internet to watch the Tour highlights. Hang out with friends for a few hours in the afternoon before going for a bike ride in the evening. Could not complain at all really. Especially as Levi and Lance kicked off the race with Top10's.

Farrar was 2nd on Stage 2, I quite like him and his Garmin team. A lot more fun than the rather serious Americans at Astana. It was Astana who won the captivating Team Time Trial on Stage 4. Things went a bit quiet from there for the Americans but the racing was still great to watch and I was really getting the hang of the tactics and stuff by now.



Stage 7 was the first mountain stage and at the end of the day Lance, Levi and Vande Velde were in the Top10 overall. The club ride that afternoon was buzzing as well discussed the race. At the end of the ride I signed up to become a Junior member of the club, payed my fee and there I was now fully embeded into cycling. Stage 14 had Hincapie move into 2nd overall and this got the other club members very excited on that afternoons ride.

Chapter 1: The Beginnings
VI: Summer of '09, Pt.2

They loved George and his hardman persona. Before they'd talked about riders and acknowledged their skills and expressed a like for them, but they really loved and respected George here. I couldn't grasp this ahead of a native Texan like Lance. A couple of them tried to explain what a “domestique� was in more detail but I understood their role as helpers, apparently I was just missing the point.

The final Saturday of the Tour was the monster stage to the top of the Ventoux. The commentators and riders had talked it up as some mythical climbing challenge and crucial stage. To my eyes it was just like any other climb and mountain stage on the route. Lance defended his 3rd place, which for a rider of his age was incredible especially after just 6 months of racing out of retirement. I loved him and i'd fallen in love with the Tour like so many others.



So much so that August was rather strange and empty. I still tracked some race and results here and there but eased back quite a bit, focusing on my own riding a lot more. I was pushing my daily rides in length and speed and feeling great about it as I could see the differences adding up each day. That was until a Thursday just about a week before August ended, and two weeks ahead of the start of a new school year.

Chapter 1: The Beginnings
VII: Back to Reality, Pt.1

NBC was back to do some more filming in the run up to the start of the normal academic year. The school would be in good condition before we all began trashing it. On the Thursday afternoon they wanted a ton of students to fill up the bleachers for the background to a shot. The big difference to usual was that most of the name stars of the show would be around at the same time for that afternoons work. This sent a buzz around all my friends who all had various crushes on the actors.



I said I was going along with them without really thinking about it at the time. To be clear I did have intentions of going until Thursday morning. The weather that day just happened to be amazing! It was a good few degress cooler than usual and a light breeze kept things fresh. No more oppresive heat and I wanted to take full advantage with a nice long ride. So I set off just after lunch out into the wilderness for a couple of hours.

Chapter 1: The Beginnings
VII: Back to Reality, Pt.2

It was so nice I lost track of time for a while and just cruised for mile after mile. I only got back to town in the early evening, having taken a few breaks along the way, long after the filming was finished. At that point I was ambushed by Laura and Cassie. They were astounded i'd blown them off, and then that I was on a bike covered in lycra. This was a football town and this was more than just normal football. Nothing was more important to the majority of our school.



Laura had some understanding with her dad occasionaly watching cycling. Cassie had none an proceeded to take it as a personal insult that I didn't want to hang out with her. She also guessed this was the reason I hadn't spent as much time with them as usual this summer. Slightly self-centered but also pretty accurate. It was just a big reminder that I was the weird one with the strange hobby and that I wouldn't be able to do it as much during school terms.

@Sutty - So when you did that in like 1794?

Chapter 1: The Beginnings
VIII: Day to Day, Pt. 1

School started up again just into September. Obviously that was most of the day Monday to Friday plus homework, ugh. It also meant Cross Country was back up and running for me and that would cover most of my sporting need and energy in the week. Certainly I was no longer doing multiple rides a week. I mean I would ride my bike to and from school each day which added up to a decent number of kilometers every week.

Ontop of that I would still go on Club rides most weekends. Every weekend during September but into October I started having the occasional Cross Country Meeting on Saturdays that would mean I had to skip those longer rides. I could certainly feel the improved fitness from a summer of lots of riding and I was a better runner than ever. This didn't go unnoticed by the coach either who began pressuring me to step-up my commitment to CC.



I didn't really want to. I was good at Cross Country, probably the best in my age group in the whole school, but I wasn't enjoying it like I used to. Last year I really liked the competition and it was great way to stay in shape. But now I had cycling and I just loved cycling more than i'd every liked Cross Country. I didn't want to give up all my Saturdays for something I didn't like. Expressing this to the coach wasn't easy so I slowly gave up more of Saturdays.

Chapter 1: The Beginnings
VIII: Day to Day, Pt.2

By the time December rolled around the Christmas Break loomed I only had one spare Saturday a month for Cycling with the rest going to Cross Country. Not fun but I was getting a podium at most inter-school meets. So I put the break to good use to get out and do some good cycling. That's one major advantage to living in this part of Texas, winters are not hugely cold or wet.



January and School started back up. The school year was doing the thing the school year does where days just run into one another withot major distinction. Football dominated the non-academic landscape and life was just the same as ever. Don't think I was depressed or anything, I was still enjoying myself and haning out with friends and stuff. I just wanted to add a little color, a little variety into things.