We’re In This Together – Nine Inch Nails

I did the Usery Loop today on the roadie. I was looking forward to this ride all day, planning to be fucking gone gone gone from the office before 6 so I could manage the whole ride in the last hour of daylight and capture a little bit of cool and shade. the speed and rhythm would help pull the soul-draining hairshirt of monday off me. plus it would help cure my residual hangover from a weekend of drinking heavily and eating wrong in Rocky Point. I was hammering pretty hard from the get-go, the short ride and the day’s anticipation driving me to a strong start. i’ve felt slower than I used to be on the roadie and its been eating at me, since…like since the Tour de Phoenix about 15 months ago when I trained pretty hard and just managed to break the platinum group at 3 hrs 14 min. sucking on the roadie shouldn’t bother me because I have not been putting in the road miles plain-and-simple, I have done Tortilla Flats once this year compared to about once-a-month in times past. but it does bother me, because I hate to suck just on general principle. there is also a social MTBR road ride coming up in 2 weeks, and while I’m not worried about being slow, its always fun to feel strong in a group ride. So, I was hammering, and realizing I had a good split at the 4-way stop sign, pushed myself along up Usery Pass.

hit the climb up Hawes at 48 min, which means i’m right on pace for my strong times for this ride. i was feeling it all over…back, quads, arms…but whatever there was only 15 min left, and short hard rides like this are the perfect way to get stronger. so i dug in for the 6 minute-long final climb. then Nine Inch Nail’s “We’re In this Together” comes on my player. sweeeet, this is exactly what i needed, this song will give me at least 3-4 minutes of motivation before the fatigue overtakes me, and by then i’ll be close enough to the top to shoot my wad and then the climb will be over. the grinding angry pounding rhythm totally matches the rumbling in my core as I launch into the climb, and i’m pushing strong smooth strokes and feeling good and feeling just the right amount aggressive and just the right amount content.

then the battery on my player dies.

G’s voice now in my head “nooooooooooooooooo”.