Bottom to the Top

I spent the day riding around Folsom Lake. It was spectacular. It was so beautiful out that I rode just a  tiny bit slower and took my time to watch all the fall colors.  I realized something as I watched the swirling world of orange and yellow vanish underneath my wheels--this is the best year of my life.

It did not exactly begin that way and looked to really be miserable.  I started the year off with stress, followed by more stress with the eventual demise of my marriage and divorce.  But, what looked like an awful chapter in my life turned out to be the beginning of the best chapter.  And, I guess you have to realize what you really had going on when you see it in someone else to fully understand where you are...

So Saturday I went on the group ride and shifted my chain off the big ring.  I had to stop, and managed to get lost at "Left turn on unnamed street."  When I found the second group I ended up riding with a new guy to the group.  Now the ride had a lot of climbing which always means a lot of decending.  I rode along with this dude and we hit a pretty steep downhill.  I did what I always do when I'm with people and hitting thirty plus...I hit the brakes.  I drifted back about twenty feet when I watched him start fish tailing and miss the turn.  So there's one problem when you miss a turn on a turning road...you run out of road.  To my horror I watch as he hit a barbed wire fence at full speed.  He tumbled over the fence and his bike ejected from his body.

Luckily he got up with only a long shallow cut on his leg and some bumps and bruises.  You would think he would simply be happy to be standing--as I was really glad to see him moving--but he was only concerned his wife would tell him to stay off the bike!  I understand his pain, as that was once was a slave to my spouse too.  But guess what?  I'm not.  I actually enjoy doing the exact opposite of what she wants in almost every situation. It's really liberating.