Riding with buddies is like sharing a cup of the best coffee and conversation. As you roll out, there’s catching up to do. Once the legs and lungs perk up, there’s time to test fitness levels and express your points of view. After being in the saddle for 2 to 3 hours together, there’s shared respect and gratitude. Each rider trades off and carries the workload. Doesn’t matter if that work involves taking a big pull into a stout headwind or providing a friendly wheel to visually “grab onto” while ascending a mountain pass. Buddies take care of each other. Always. They make sure no one is left behind. They protect one another. They are vigilant against anything — or anyone — that could bring harm. Alerting our riding partners to potholes and rocks is standard procedure. Calling out “car back” is just another day in our weekend office. No thinking required. It’s reflexive. It’s commonplace. It’s right. I love this about cycling with friends, and I bet you do too. In the truest sense, we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.
Today, on a ride up Palomar Mountain with a good friend, Troy Malone, a motorist honked at us as we pedaled single file inside the white line of a narrow shoulder. My first inclination was to be angry. To respond in kind. Then, I decided simply to laugh. I was riding with a buddy. We have the Buddy System. There was another 4,000 feet of climbing in front of us. Much work to do together. We reached the summit and assessed our good fortune. Then we descended in such a free and unfettered way, well, it was poetic justice. Here are the numbers.
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