The Offspring – I Want You Bad

Its been almost 3 weeks since i rode National, the longest time in awhile. I was dreading this ride – the horror of commuting over to Somo, the monumental effort at getting out of work early, the heat, the first big tech ride post-Moab\Fruita…but most daunting was having to face the mountain. i felt like i was crawling home after a fight with Beckie, or when you first run into a girl you broke up with. It happened with my prom date a few months after we broke up – it wasn’t pretty at all. This was going to be awkward. JB was supposed to ride with me but flaked; would have been good motivation to have that commitment to get out of work and to the trail, and having a wing-man to face The Ex.

i got into my car at 4:20, but alas the perils of rush hour delayed that for a full 30 minutes.. I went east to 101, got in a slowdown, but things picked up from 60 and on Baseline. 25 min to 46th St. Maybe Scottsdale to 202 will be faster next time. i was pissy and sour, work sucks its one crisis after another day-in and day-out. On the one hand, that is what i get paid for and why i can keep my own hours and have so much free reign. On the other hand, i could give less of a shit if this upcoming Tom Waits concert series and its pioneering of virtual ticketing for Access Manager will in fact be the much-touted solution to scalpers. i do not know who Tom Waits is, but apparently he is quite popular. Olympics, Ticket Exchange, Kiosk…ho-fucking-hum i am slogging from the shitty new office through rush hour traffic so I can ride The King!

I was confused and disoriented having to drive to Somo, out of sync, did not know what i wanted to ride. i was going to park at 46th and do my normal loop up National and down 24th, but it felt wrong…like going to all the places we used to go. fuck it i was already in the car, i decided to park at 24th, go up Geronimo and out National to Telegraph, then maybe back up National and down 24th. I’ve never gone up Geronimo or up National that direction, it would be unfamiliar, like a first date. it would also be rough and rugged and uphill in all the wrong places. Some people get in a funk and have to ease their way out, or they retreat. that’s never been my style; getting challenged has always been what picks me up.

This was the first song on my player when i got rolling at 5. its hard work finding this kind of irony.

Saying i was rolling, however, would be a generous description of my labor up Geronimo. some of its gettable, some of it isn’t, some of it i simply could not keep pedaling it was so hard and steep. The worst was the first half mile, but every slot or sequence that makes the ride down so much fun was a slow hike-a-bike on the way up. i did ok, actually, but could do so much better… 40 minutes later i hit BV.

Some quick math told me 30 minutes to Telegraph and maybe as much as an hour on the ride back would make this a pretty long day. I could always bail on the road or back down Geronimo. I put on just my knee pads for the ride down — i felt a little naked, but it was too hot to fully armor-up and getting a little un-used to the armor is probably a good thing to keep my confidence strong. I paid close attention to the uphill and downhill on the ride out National and it just didn’t seem like it would be anywhere near as bad as the climb up Geronimo. a hot Tookie MILF jogger was stretching at the top of Telegraph when i dropped in and refueled. it was just too awkward us being the only 2 people there, standing next to each other and not acknowledging each other. She was bracing to get hit on, and while she was hot, i refuse to be creepy-dorky-desperate guy. So i finished my cliff shot and coolly let her start talking to me. Introductions, awkwardness — just like my ride; i said goodbye and started the climb up National while getting a great view of her butt as she went down Telegraph.

The climb had its tough spots as i knew it would, but it was not bad at all. It took only 40 minutes to recover the 30 minutes out, i got to hit all the fun obstacles that are so hard to climb, and get great views of the lines and drops that seem so hard on the way out. The Catwalk i walked a few spots, but it didn’t get in my head at all. I felt pretty good when i got back to BV, and charged down National as the sunset bloomed. I keep finding new fun moves down the top of National every time i ride it. it just isn’t as steep as it used to be. Down 24th, some good moves some sloppy ones, some awkward fumbling like the first time hooking up. Not my best ride, but a pretty strong showing all-things-considered. Sometimes its not about how hard a hit you can give, but about how hard a hit you can take.