Chapter 2

The next weekend, in typical spring fashion in the Northwest, dawned gray and overcast. Rain threatened on the horizon and I packed my rain gear along with dressing in layers. When I pulled into the parking lot of the park with my bike on the roof rack, the turnout was about what I expected whenever rain threatened; about half as many riders as when the weather was nice. Nick had called in sick (read, hung over) that morning, so I was going to have to handle the whole herd solo. Instead of the normal twenty or more riders a sunny day would have attracted, today we had ten in the ‘Blue Crew’, eleven if you throw me into the mix.

Meredith was there, along with Anne and her sister Lizzie. Apparently, Amanda and Melinda had a conflict and couldn’t make it. The rest of the ‘Blue Crew’ consisted of the usual group of hard core guys sans social skills, also known as wannabe racers without the skills to step up to the next level. Sigh, okay, so I was going to have to ride with a pack of wild dogs and three beautiful ladies. Something about ‘May you live in interesting times’ kept playing in my head.

The dogs were already sniffing around the three ladies, and they instinctively crowded closer to me. This made me feel better about my chances, but only a little, as I was going to have to keep the dogs away from ‘my’ partners while I was still responsible for the whole group. I had everybody park their bikes in the grass and had them huddle up. “Okay, here are the ground rules for today. Since the group is so small, and some of them have already formed a team,” I said this without looking at any of my ladies and the dogs missed the overtones. “I think it will be okay if you guys want to take copies of the route map and forge ahead. In fact, since the faster group is even smaller than we are, maybe I should see if we should consolidate.” With this, I walked over to Roger, who was the “Red Zombies” ride leader, and we had a brief chat about groups. He said he only had six riders, including himself, and he wanted to work on pace lines today. We were facing a pretty brisk wind, and riding fifty miles into it would not be fun. When everything was said and done, I had my three and two more from Roger’s group, and all the dogs had salivated at the chance to ride a fast pace line.

The “Red Zombies” spun off into the distance just as the first fat drops of rain started to fall. My two unknowns looked at each other, then up at the rain filled clouds, then at each other, and announced they were bailing. Shouting “Have a nice ride!” they bolted for their car and probably the nearest Starbucks. I turned and looked at my ladies and waited.

“You know what, we can only get so wet, right?” said Meredith as the rain picked up.

“Yeah,” I said, “as long as we keep moving to stay warm and y’all have rain gear, we should be okay.” Meredith and Anne both had on rain jackets and tights. Lizzie only had on an outer jersey with her tights, which was already getting pretty wet, so I gave her my rain jacket and got my lighter wind jacket out of the Jeep.

“Thanks, Nate,” Lizzie said as I put the jacket on her, and she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek for my gallantry.

“Yeah, thanks Nate,” said Anne and Meredith as they too gave me quick kisses. By this point, I was blushing furiously and really didn’t need to get any warmer.

“Listen, it’s what teammates do for each other, okay. It’s nothing big.” It’s also funny how the warmth of those chaste little kisses stayed with me for the first hour or so. We rode along in companionable silence after that. The only sounds we made were to call out road hazards and traffic calls. Rain isn’t all that bad to ride in, as long as...

About twenty miles in, I heard Anne say “Shit!” and then the words we all dreaded hearing on a rainy day, “I’ve got a flat!”

We all pulled off to the side of the shoulder under a tree and then gathered around Anne’s bike. Meredith held mine and Lizzie’s bikes while we worked on changing Anne’s flat front tire. The problem with changing a tire in the rain is that the inside of the wheel gets all wet. For the tube to really do its job, it needs to float around a bit inside the tire. This is why a lot of old hands, like me, pack their spare tubes in a baggie with some baby powder. As long as it’s not raining, it’s a great idea as the tube will not stick to the tire walls. The trick is to try to change the tire without getting the inside all wet.

I opened up my wind jacket to make a tent over Anne and Lizzie while they went to work on changing the flat as fast as they could. I’m standing there being a human tent when I feel a hand gently rub my butt. Since Anne and Lizzie are inside my ‘tent’, I can only assume it’s Meredith whose hand is tracing the seams on my tights. At first, I tried to ignore it, but when her hand slid down and cupped my balls, I about lost it.

Without even looking up, Anne said, “Meredith, if you make him flinch again, I’m going to have to hurt you! I’ve almost got this done, and then we can get on the road again.”

“Spoilsport!” said Meredith, but she did slide her hand back up, but not before giving me a pinch on my butt to think about.

“It’s no fair cheating,” said Lizzie as she climbed out from under my jacket to look up at Meredith, “we all agreed on this, remember.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Sighed Meredith, “but it was right there, and I couldn’t help myself. I’ve been staring at it all day, and I just wanted to see if it felt as good as it looks.”

“Well, just be patient, young lady. All good things come to those who wait,” said Anne as she fitted her wheel back onto her bike. “Don’t look so stunned, Nate, It’s not like you haven’t had a woman rub your butt before! Besides, it is such a cute butt all covered in spandex.” Anne suited words to action and ran her hand up my left thigh to my hip. I just stood there like I had been poleaxed. “Oh my, it does feel as good as it looks!”

“Okay, the sooner we get to Black Diamond, the sooner we can get out of this rain and into something warm.” Meredith said as everyone else swung up into the saddle. “Are you coming, Nate?”

Gathering what little wits I had remaining, I said the first thing that came to my mind, “No, just breathing a little hard...” It’s a good thing it’s not all that hard to ride with a hard on, and it’s amazing how quickly it fades when three beautiful women laugh about it!

We got to the Black Diamond Bakery just as the “Red Zombies” were getting served their food. We grabbed a table and the harried waitress brought over menus and water. Once we had a table, we each took turns holding it down while the others went to the bathroom. Being a gentleman, I went last, and got back just in time to place my order for lunch. “I’ll take half a turkey on whole wheat, no mayo, and a green salad. With a large lemonade if you please?”

“So, Nate, what do you really do for a day job? You’re much too young to actually be retired?” said Meredith while we waited for our food.

“Well, I did okay with my earnings from racing and I invested well, so being a single guy with no dependents I live pretty well on my investments. I am going back to school to get my masters, and then I’ll be a teacher in about a year.”

“So, Nate, what are you going to teach?” asked Anne, “Maybe PE or Health?”

“Sorry, no, I’ll be teaching English or History.” I said.

“Ahh, so you won’t be teaching little high school girls about the facts of life?” Lizzie said with a grin. “That’s okay, if I had had you as a teacher, I might have paid more attention in History class.”

“I’m sure you did just fine in school, Lizzie.” I replied somewhat gallantly.

“Yeah, it’s amazing what wearing a short cheerleader skirt and a tight sweater to class will do for your grades, and not just with the male teachers!” Meredith said, while Anne and Lizzie both sported matching ‘who me’ looks. I about swallowed my tongue as that image flared up in my brain.

The rest of lunch was a pretty quiet affair. Little more than refueling, really, and then we were back out in the elements for the ride back to the park. The rain had slacked off a bit, and it was a pleasant enough ride back.