Shafts of sunlight cut through the clouds above the Ko’olaus as I made my way home after work. It was still early enough to turn in a little riding even though I had to make a stop for gasoline. As I went up through the neighborhood, I saw a bike rider at the curb near the park at the bottom of the hill. Rounding the turn, I saw the infamous entropy herd stacking up at the end of the street. Not them again! I almost gave up on riding for the day, but I wasn’t about to let them spoil my fun. I geared up, pumped up the tires, and hit the road.
The beginning of my ride went pleasantly with no signs of them as I spun through the neighborhood and ripped down the highway. Climbing up to WCC, I spotted a pair of them at the circus at the entrance to campus. I gave them a wide berth and went through the lower parking lot and worked around them via the back road and climbed to the top. Happily, I didn’t see them for two laps. Smiley security guard was walking his rounds and was as cheerful as usual. On lap three, I saw the horde going up the climb. A couple of show-offs had gone blitzing it up the hill, but I had to carefully work my way around the slower riders as they weaved haphazardly up the narrow roadway. One person was pushing her bike up, and she was the only one moving in a reasonably predictable fashion. On lap four, they were clogging up the top road, making life unhappy for car drivers. I gave them a lot of space when I passed them and put them well behind me. On lap five, they were lingering at the blind corner at the end of the road under the mango trees, circling and turning like a roiling whirlpool of cheap metal, rubber, flesh and sweaty lycra. My knees were hurting a little, so I bailed home through the park and did a little weight training.
D = 13.97 km (8.68-miles), Vavr = 21.1 km/h (13.1 mph), Vmax = 51.1 km/h (31.8 mph), T = 40-minutes
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