The Beginning of the End
It’s the beginning of the end of my years as a junior, not that that means much since 17-18s don’t do many junior races anyway, which is probably a good thing. Race against nine Team Monopoly Specialized Juniors? No thanks.
The highlight of my winter break was probably the trip my dad, my brother, and I made to Palo Alto for a few days of riding. On the night that we arrived, we treated ourselves to dinner in a small, deserted Italian restaurant. Then we watched the Robin Williams stand-up special on HBO, which I thought was more crude than funny.
The next morning we feasted on some Svenhard’s cinnamon horns, the staple of the motel breakfast, and went for a ride. We headed up Page Mill Road, which had some pretty steep stretches, but we took it easy. Then we rode along the ridge on Skyline Boulevard, where we stopped at a vista point. After getting back to the motel we went to get a snack, in the process braving the traffic that was clogging up all of Palo Alto. Then we walked around campus for a while and spent an hour in the bookstore. I got a graphic novel called Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth, and it’s about the twentieth-century foundational crisis of math. The book was fascinating to read. After the bookstore we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant that my parents used to go to years ago. Finally, we went to the movies to see Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I found much funnier than Robin Williams’s act. My brother and I especially liked Kylie the opossum and Petey. It was a great day.
For our second ride we rode up Old La Honda Road, then went down the other side of the ridge, and rode up Alpine Road. I was really impressed by the way my brother was climbing, who, for the first time, dropped my dad on a long climb. Of course, I made sure not to get beaten. I’m okay with being shorter than him but not slower; however, he apparently has other ideas. On the way home from Palo Alto I got stuffed at Fresh Choice.
The whole time we were riding, all I could think about was how much I want to go to college there. And the climbing was a nice change from the riding around Davis. Yesterday I got to do some more climbing at the season-opening Mt. San Bruno Hillclimb. For most of the way I set the pace for Bjorn Fox (Above Category) and a couple of Team Swift guys I didn’t recognize. I thought I was going fast, but apparently my fast wasn’t fast enough because I couldn’t shake them. Eventually I attacked and got a gap but started to blow up quickly. I managed to hold them off for the win. My time (16:47) was pretty much the same as last year’s, but I’m blaming this on the fact that every field started on its own this year, as opposed to the previous years, when the juniors started at the same time as the 3s and Pro/1/2s. That helped because I had some really fast guys to ride behind. My brother improved, finishing fifth this year, and my dad finished third in his first 55+ race. But the best part was that I didn’t win any video games!
Now I only have one day left before I go back to school. Finals are in a few weeks, and then I only have a semester left of high school. I’ve submitted all two of my college applications, so now all that’s left to do is cross my fingers for four months.
