Left the saltmine a little late today and it was only Gary and I. Gary rides something he bought from a Lawn Sale which actually doesnt look too bad. He rides with bloody girly MTB pedals that makes the bike look a little whimpy I reckon
Gary likes to coast on his rides and do his own thing, not sure if he's happy he met me. If I dont keep an eye on him and make him suffer he's lollygaging, looking at the scenery and enjoying himself, like what sort of Lycra Power Ranger is this
RIde home was a little tougher today, headwind was around 25km/hr, still in the mid 30s and I think he wants to call it a day already. He ducks in behind and I slow down to 30 and he's still hurtin. I tell him to HTFU, hang on and just sit close. As we're going so darn slow I stick it in 50/12 to give myself something to push or I'd be falling asleep. He dropped a few times on big gusts of wind and up and over the 2 bumps we have. He made it to the Hatt road turnoff, I waited for him and watched the cars go past at sub-light speed, no wonder there are so many deaths on country roads.
Out we go onto the Stuart Highway, sitting on the left hand edge on 30km/hr and making sure Gary was on. One thing I found about Gary, if its too easy he starts talking, if it gets too hard he stops talking and then drops off. My challenge is to keep him talking just enough to know he's with me but make him ride better to improve his ability
Anyway we make it to the Airport Turnoff and now we have the nice tailwind. Normally it would be 40+++ down here but Gary is suffering, I drag him along at 30, what happens he starts talking too much, up goes the speed and the chatter becomes less and I'm happy he's working
We make it through the "Gap", pass pleasantries and then I stomp on the gas and we're in the 40s, how nice it is
So not too far from home now and I'm still in the 50/12 pushing like a mule and its feeling great. I make the turn into Memorial and decide to sit up and give myself a "not well deserved" rest. WHen I do walk into the house with the 2x3 phase aircon units pumping away I notice how darn hot it still is outside..
So it was a good day, doing a little more work tonight and ready for the next 5:30am rise. Gary reckons he's leaving at an "undisclosed time" from his house so I can chase him. He had nearly 20 minutes on me one day and I didnt catch him, when he gave me 15 mins head start I did catch him with 5km to go...
Time to put a coffee on and watch some Selectv, if you had to look at Imparja or Central Prime you'd be looking for sharp objects to hit yourself with....
Sandman "lost in the Center"