When it comes to cycling, I have been influenced by many. Of course, there is this guy, without whom, I would still be grinding and hammering and especially wimpy. He always thought I never listened when he spouted off suggestion after suggestion as I chased him around in all his single speeded glory, but I did. Even when he spouted off a bazillion instructions and suggestions after I'd told him I could only remember one thing at at time....I still listened. Learned.
Then there are these two pictured above, who I met through the former. Practically everyone in the bike-a-verse knows Cheever (the evil guy on the left), who runs this here place. He's batshit crazy, and I met him one Ragbrai way back when. Eventually he flipped me so much shit that we wrestled and when I pinned him those Evil folks promptly kidnapped me and claimed me as their own.
Then there is Roberto (the one who is adjusting his spine), who rarely utters a word, but it 110% badass. The guy rides a single speed mountain bike on Ragbrai every year, and we all still find ourselvees sucking his wheel. He's a machine, a computer geek and a tweaker. In the sense of tweaker that he'll often cock his head sideways somewhat like my dog, and lament that perhaps my seat post be a fraction of a fraction off, so we should stop so he could fix that right away. I met him the year he and the Viking rode their bikes from Bellingham, TO Ragbrai. He makes me laugh my ass off, has literally pushed me up more than one hill, and is a wonderful teacher. He taught me to climb. In more ways than one.
I just never knew, with all their talents, that these two could hula hoop. And THAT made my week.
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