G said this to me when i arrived home. It was funny because it was true. I’m a Flight of the Pigs virgin no longer!

getting up at 4:30 on Black Friday sucked ass, but at least it was for something superfun with (A LOT) of friends. People doing it to save $40 on a DVD player: Have you not heard of buy.com?

There are a bajillion pixels about The Flight on the intertubez, i have nothing new to add, but there were some cool highlights. First one came as we rested at San Juan road after hammering across National. I’ve been conditioned by Jim’s Squealer such that I can’t do Natty coast-to-coast slow, and it was cool to be outriding a lot of the pack on the techy stuff, knowing their time would come on the sprints. Other than picking lines more critically, I hardly noticed the Hei Hei vs. the Heckler on the gnar, and once again the Hei Hei was far far superior for everything else. It left Bob, Doug and I near the front of the ~70 riders at the first re-group. Bob brought a flask of Maker’s to share, and i had 2lbs of M&M’s, which make a great chaser at 10am.

the pack amassed for a 10 mile sprint NE to 3rd Ave and McDowell for lunch. Somehow I kept up with the lead group, which i did not intend or think possible, I roadie so little anymore. Going wheel-to-wheel is a lot less scary with fat tires and slacker angles and baggies.

Sacks Sandwiches after 3.5 hrs and 30 miles hit the spot. the opportunity to use a real bathroom was so opulent, i pooped twice. The crowd showed rather little aftereffects of Thankgiving Dinner. In retrospect, i was glad this event loomed over the start of the long weekend, cause it kept me from sinking into the depths of Tday sloth and drunken coma: i was very legal to drive everyone to the park at 6pm the night before . The long ride and need to drive home had the same effect on Friday. When I left the post-ride party at 8pm, I’d had 4.5 drinks over 5 hrs and 25 miles, my BAC was .04 and I was too tired for 3rds at the bbq.

splayed out for lunch

another 15 miles up town and across T100, the dirt and ascents started to feel very slow, the ease of T100 rudely punctuated by several steep hike-a-bikes.� Yuri and Gordon rode in to provide a SAG stop by the Dreamy Draw TH.� It refreshed my attitude. Thanks guys!

i was back in my Happy Place as i hit the last significant climb on the ride, and 30 min later reached our next regroup on the grassy knoll where T100 ends at Tatum. Durtgurl, Scott and Elissa Nowacki, Mike R and others SAGd us an awesome spread of bacon and deserts. A shot of Jack with James melted away the last 10 hours of November outside.

Buzzed or reinvigorated? whatever, it sure worked! I kept up with the lead group for another 10 miles south through Papago Park to our last regroup at Hunt’s Tomb. But this 5th time trial left me flat. A 70-mile, 7 hr ride – half on the road – should not have hurt as much as it did, but riding it at group pace rather than my own enduro pace wore me down weirdly. I cracked off the lead group 5 miles from the end heading south through Tempe back to Jim’s house near Somo. It was a bigtime crack too; click click boom and I was suddenly on E. My head got weird, but in a good way – i found something to grab onto, a wisp of pride perhaps to not be DFL, or could have been an eye-booger, hard to tell…eventually it became another rider’s wheel, and then someone else’s wheel on the biggest little overpass climb ever. I’m used to being able to endure, but at my own pace, and this unexpected bit of backbone under pressure was unexpected. Maybe I should ride with groups more?

Jim and Kim rewarded the finishers with a new pair of Pig socks, ironic as Beckie lost one of the pair I’d bought at the last Squealer. She found it while I was riding, just as the flask I’d bought on Ebay weeks before arrived in the mail. All signs to do The Flight again.