I really felt crummy today -- very weak and fuzzy-headed, no strength at all in my upper body. I felt like I could barely lift my arms. Constant threat of sharting. Very gassy. It may have been last night's burritos.

The City	from McLaren Park	Phallus

At the beginning of today's ride, Romulus and I were to attend a safety seminar presented by one of the City's fine businesses. There we hoped to pick up some useful safety materials before heading out on our urban MTB ride. However, there were technical difficulties and the presentation was not ready at 3:00 when we started the ride. We decided to swing by after the ride for punch and cookies.

From Rom's house we rolled to McLaren Park, then around to the west and up to Mt. Davidson. The views were spectacular in all directions, especially looking NNE towards the financial district, the Bay Bridge, and Richmond.

At the Mt. D cross (featured prominently in a scene of "Dirty Harry"), we made some offerings to the Gods and took some pictures. I was hurting. I could barely walk a straight line, my vision was a little blurry, my head felt spacey, and I felt fluttery in general.

Down Davidson we rolled out to the Great Highway, where we bombed along with traffic at a crisp 20-MPH clip. It was reminiscent of the night ride we did with Bonzai last spring (See April 14, 2004: The rip-pahhhh!). We miss Bonzai. Romulus and I make a nice two-man team, but I think we'd be stronger riders with a third wheel, to say nothing of a third wheel of Bonzai's caliber.

Most of the rest of the ride was a blazing blur. I remember at one point we came up on a bicycle messenger who was rolling along pretty good. We, of course, were hammering, and came up on him really fast. Unaware of us, he kind of drifted out into Romulus' path just as the big man was blowing past him. Romulus called out and prepared an Earl Campbell stiff arm, but at the last second, the guy saw Romulus and totally flinched. He wobbled dangerously over towards Romulus before pulling his shit together and moving off to the right. Granted, we snuck up on him, but I've been a messenger in the City and I could tell that he was embarrassed and a little pissed that we had startled him. Messengers fancy themselves the kings of the streets -- and they are good -- and this guy had just lost a little face to us. Oh well, we were by him in a flash and soon he was just a speck on the horizon in our rearview mirrors.

Every mile hurt. Romulus was on a mission today and I was barely hanging on. It was just one of those days where you don't have your best stuff. Adding insult to injury, I also brought two left gloves and swallowed a mud clod whole when it flew off Rom's rear wheel right into my mouth and down my throat. A hole in one -- I don't even think it touched my mouth at all.

We did make it back in time for the end of the safety seminar and walked out with an armload of quality materials that I think will be very useful.