The nose that thought it was a faucet		A Spin Around Marin, the Sequel May 10, 2001 I left spots of blood all over Marin County today. No, I didn't crash the bike or anything, but for nearly half of my 90-mile ride today (70 mile route plus 20 additional within the Presidio), my nose just wouldn't stop bleeding. Of course I stopped when the bleeding became severe and seemingly unstoppable, but I somehow needed to keep going. Other than the fact that I had battled severe allergies while in New York -- as if the allergy season here at home wasn't bad enough to begin with -- I can't really tell why the nose bleeds were so bad today. Certainly, today's heat (90 degrees in some portions with no tree cover for miles) made matters worse. Thankfully, I was riding with Heather, a paramedic in the San Francisco Fire Department who was keeping an eye on me from time to time. [Thank you so much for ensuring it wasn't head trauma, Heather! I enjoyed your company during the ride as well.] Call today's ride the deja vu ride. The course was nearly identical to that which we rode about two weeks ago, and our ride leader was Michael England, who also led the Woodside ride the day after. As expected from a mid-week ride, the group was small and intimate: nine riders in all. By the time we left Stinson Beach, however, there were eight. Dio, who took the trophy for today's snazziest looking bike, fell victim to a pretty bad mechanical problem. His rear derailleur hanger snapped in two -- how in heaven's name this can happen, I don't know, but when your derailleur's hanging off the chain like a pair of sneakers on a telephone wire, it ain't good. I offered to remove the derailleur and shorten his chain so he could ride single speed for the rest of the day, but with 55 miles still ahead of us, the training leader advised against it. With no weekday bus service to SF anywhere around, Dio had to hitchhike back to the city. Dio was not a happy camper. With the exception of Greg's flat tire on the return trip, the rest of the day remained pretty incident free. Like on the first time I rode this route, everybody got the sense that they were a better bike rider at the end of this ride. I suppose climbing Mt. Tam earns you that sort of distinction. Greg and I, who had climbed the same sections of the mountain before, agreed that it was much better the second time around. I hit a personal speed record today on one of the straightaway descents, 52.2 miles per hour (84 Kph)!! I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow named Steve today, who had only taken up cycling last January and was moved to join this event in memory of his daughter, whom he had lost to AIDS recently. His determination, persistence and kind spirit were quite evident as we chatted along the return trip. [I hope to see you in another training ride, Steve. Let me know if you and your riding buddies want to explore the East Bay some day. I'll show you around!]
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