When writing on the middle of the road with a piece of chalk, it is best to use the end rather than the broad side. It is also best to work quickly and not get so involved in your work that you forget your surroundings. That thing which sounds like a Ford F-250 with a 6.7 Liter V8 Turbo Diesel coming toward you on the road is very likely to be a Ford F-250 with a 6.7 Liter V8 Turbo Diesel coming toward you on the road. Fortunately, if your morning was anything like mine, the driver is the Farm Manager in the Valley of Love and Delight who is likely to cut you some slack since he already knows the extent to which you are strange.
He may not have counted on the fact that there will be cyclists on the road as he shuttles back and forth between pastures, but he is a fairly mellow guy so he is unlikely to get uptight. Triathletes, on the other had, can get intense sometimes. The first one I knew was a former Navy SEAL who could slip into jungle mode from time to time. It’s hard to know whether you will really be welcome if you are standing on the side of the road, waving your iTouchy to activate the cowbell app while people finish yet another climb.
The hard asses are not really the ones I was there for anyway. There were a few people I knew would be competing so it seemed like fun to go cheer them on at 7:30 on a Sunday morning. There were a few other people who I did not know would be competing, but I wound up cheering for them too.
And then there were people I did not know at all. Some of these were people who clearly did not know what they were doing. Maybe they thought they knew before they started, but they did not know it would be like this. They did not know it would be so early, long, hot, hilly, and hard. They did not know it would feel like death for a while. They did not know they could do it. But they can do it. They were doing it.
It is very inspiring to see people who are in the middle of changing their lives. I am awed by people who take that first step and do something as ridiculous as a triathlon. There is no good, logical reason for getting out on a public road and displaying your level of fitness for everyone to see. Unless you are awesome. If you are somewhat overweight, trying to pedal a machine you haven’t sat on since puberty, somehow dragging yourself up one more goddamn hill at 8:23 on a Sunday morning, you are awesome. I’m very grateful you let me be a witness.