The 8:15 to L.A.

I have almost no time to ride this morning. Chris and Dan are going to meet at my house at 5:45am. From here we will ride the mountain. Or at least that was the original plan. But, my mom is coming by at 6:15 to pick up my wife and daughters for a girl's weekend in Los Angeles. They have an 8:15 flight to L.A. Which means I need to be back before they are ready to leave so that I can stay with my son. I initially thought they had a later flight and I would have more time. But, such is not the case. So, I will have to make the most of what I have.

About 6:40 I'm outside and ready to go. A silver car I don't recognize pulls into my driveway... hey, it's Tom. I didn't realize Tom was going to ride with us today. A few minutes later both Dan and Chris pull up. As everyone is getting ready to ride, here comes another white truck I don't recognize. Ah, it's the newspaper lady. After a very laborious demonstration of how not to navigate a cul-de-sac, almost hitting Dan in the process, she engages Dan in conversation by asking if this is his house. He explains that it's not his house, but it IS his friends house. The poor driving newspaper lady hands him my newspaper, suggesting that he may deliver it to its final destination.

More awkwardness ensues as she then gets out of her truck to place my neighbors newspaper in the sun bleached and weather-cracked orange Arizona Daily Star container precariously strapped to the underside of his mailbox post. I remember when I was a kid, everyone on the street had one of these containers on their mailbox. My neighbors remains the only one left standing. After completing this ridiculous and archaic ritual, paper lady climbs back in her truck, has more trouble navigating the second half of the cul-de-sac, finally completes the turn and (in a more traditional manner) tosses papers in the driveways of the remaining subscribing neighbors.

Now that the street is clear of bad-driving paper ladies, everyone is ready to ride. As Chris, Tom and I turn onto Catalina Hwy, Dan apparently has a problem with his chain and ends up falling. Now, I didn't see him fall, but it seems appropriate. As described before, everyone who is new to clipless pedal must fall at some point. It's a bit of an initiation thing.

Well, Dan is alright. No major damage done. Chain fixed, and we are back on our way. We make our way north towards the mountain. It's about 5:55am right now and I am going to have to turn around no later than 6:05 if I am to be home by 6:15. About 1 mile in, I notice that Chris and Tom are setting a bit of a faster pace and have gotten out in front of Dan and I by about 150 yards. Realizing I don't have much time, and I need to get some work in, I decide I am going to pick up the pace. Increasing my pace just a bit, I catch up to Chris and Tom about 1/2 mile from the base. It's time to sprint! The last half mile to the base of the mountain is a good steady incline, so I drop the hammer and go as hard as I can for as long as I can. A glance at my HRM shows that my heart rate reaches 166bpm and I'm breathing heavy.

It's 6:08 when I reach the Mt. Lemmon milepost 0 marker and I gotta hustle home. So, there is no let-up as I make the turn and begin an all-out sprint for home (all be it, mostly downhill this time). It's 6:17 when I pull into my driveway and my mother is there loading luggage into the trunk of her car. A couple of minutes to bid farewell to the females in my family and to wish them a safe trip.

My son is still asleep. It will probably be another hour before he wakes up and we can officially start our "guy's" weekend. I have lot's of stuff planned. It's the first weekend of College football so we will enjoy football and food and whatever else comes our way.