Not having anyone to ride with and expecting a slight hangover from Saturday night’s international festivities, I figured I might as well actually go on one of the “Epping Forest Epic” rides which I never managed to find a few weeks ago. I had checked the forum the night before and it looked like a couple very beginner women were planning on showing up, which I had mixed feelings about. Mike, the ride leader, is a very nice guy who runs a mountain bike touring company in Greece. He is a true ride leader; un-ending patience, kindness, and explanations of the route along the way, making sure no one got lost (which would be easy to do in the forest). The pace was painfully slow and I felt conflicted as I had no one else to go or ride with, but also wanted to maximize a sunny day after getting rained out from riding on Friday. I sense that sunny days will soon become rare and my riding days are rare to begin with!

I’ll spare you the details and just sum it up by saying that in terms of the cycling community here, it feels a bit like stepping back in time. People ride, and there is some great enthusiasm and some very good riders, but the level of sophistication and concentration is lagging far behind what I’m used to. I had to chuckle when I thought about some of the “beginner” women who started out this season with the T9 club - no matter how much of a beginner you might think you are, you all probably still knew which way to put on a helmet and recognize what clipless pedals are, even if you don’t use them… One of the women who showed up was on a hybrid bike with slick tires and flat pedals – the bike she uses for commuting. I have to say, though, she had the proper “Title Nine spirit” and even tried a few stream crossings with some success on her less-than-ideal bike setup. We met up with another woman later in the ride and then split up; Mike, the new girl, and I doing a loop up in the north end of the forest. She was a pretty good mountain biker, so we got to do some more challenging bits before she had to head back. Nevertheless, I still did quite a bit of waiting. Heading back to our starting point, it was only Mike and I. He had long since figured out I was a solid rider, relatively fit, and chomping at the bit. He let me lead, calling out the turns, and we got a good little pace going, me waiting for him at the “top” of a couple of the “hills.” Despite a lot of stopping and waiting, I still managed to get a decent ride in and it was such a nice day, it was just good to be outside.

Because it was a weekend, we saw many more other riders out. All on mountain bikes and a few even sporting body armor. This would be like wearing body armor on the flat parts of the Foothills trail at home… a bit overkill in my opinion. Wetter conditions definitely made it a bit more challenging on the ‘cross bike and at some point it will probably be muddy enough that a mountain bike with fatter mud-tires would be starkly advantageous, but I still think these trails are perfect for the ‘cross setup. Nevertheless, I am still met with unanimous amazement that I’m riding “that bike” in the forest and cleaning most of the hills and technical bits.

Now, let me just put that into psycho-Boulder-fit perspective: I’m riding maybe twice a week, if I’m lucky, and maybe doing a short run once per week. That’s all in terms of exercise. I’m riding a ‘cross bike while everyone I ride with is on a mountain bike. I’ve eaten quite a bit of fried food and am drinking more and more each week (which is still not much at all, but hey, something is more than nothing!) I have lost a bit of weight in the form of muscle mass. By the time I get home I’ll probably be about as unfit as I’ve ever been in the past decade. But for the moment, I seem to be a cycling rockstar. I’m going to need to get a bigger helmet soon. So, until all my wonderful friends at home swiftly put me back in my place upon return to Boulder, I’m going to completely savor the royal status. Maybe I should find a ‘cross race… nah, I wouldn’t want to get knocked off my thrown by some teenage racing punks. Of course, Ira will be here in about a week with his bike and his superior fitness and large red-blood-cell count. Can someone please swing by Excel and give him a good kick in the chest to collapse one of his lungs before he comes over? (just kidding, sweetie!)

After the ride, I gave Emma (who used to work for Title Nine headquarters and the only person I knew in London before arriving) a quick call to see if she was around before heading back to the East End. She happened to be home and preparing for some friends to come by to watch the Ireland v. Argentina rugby game. I popped by and we enjoyed a bit of catching-up and a cup of tea before her friends arrived. I was still in my bike clothes, but I couldn’t resist hanging out with a bunch of women (!), most of whom used to or still do play rugby and watching the game. I rooted for Ireland in Shane’s spirit, but they didn’t ‘defend their try line’ very well and lost badly to Argentina. The girls educated me on the game, though, as well as the proper comments to make regarding Ireland’s lack of skill to torture Shane a bit. Tee hee hee…