Thursday, May 31, 2007

and it isn't even my birthday

As I write this entry, the Tuesday-Thursday retired guy's group ride is underway - without me. I had all intentions on doing it until 11:11 this morning when i woke up to an achy body and groggy head. Still not recovered from Tuesday's outing with the guys - darn. It's probably better that way anyway, because I don't think I'm ready to kill the memories from the last ride!

While standing in my friends' doorway last Tuesday waiting for the group ride to arrive, I bitched for five whole minutes about my lack of excitement to mount the bike. I'm still perpetually tired (although it is getting better) which squashes any motivation I attempt to conjure to voluntarily ride farther than to the nearest cafe. In the middle of the bitch-fest to my friends who were seeing me off, I asked the universe for some help in keeping my interest on riding all day. Hey, miracles do happen to those who believe!

As the tail end of the group passed, I got on the bike, said "joep" (pronounced yo) to my friends and off i begrudgingly went. The first three minutes were torture. In my mind, i struggled with staying on the bike. At 30kph, it was physically a breeze. But turning those pedals in my mind was a struggle. Just as i'm having the thought to bail, go back to bed and curl up in a ball, this masked man donning super wide oversized dark glasses and dressed completely in black pulled up alongside me. Intrigued, I slyly checked him out - hmmm... looks fabulous in lycra, pedals elegantly, great bone structure AND is under 40!! I have never seen anyone under 60 on this ride - truly a gift intended for me. THANK YOU universe! And it got even better, My gift rode alongside me for two hours straight without uttering a single word! Silent Eye Candy - every woman's dream!! That's like bon-bons without calories.

I wasn't sure if it was sheer coincidence that we spent the whole ride partnered up, surviving all shake-ups in the group dynamic due to traffic lights, road construction and single file paths. We even magically re-partnered after an extended group pee stop. (The guys took a little extra time to properly tease me about the plethora of pruimen (prunes) on my bike and body, clearly alluding to the other dutch meaning of the word based on all their mischievous grins.) Either way, I wasn't complaining. I had gotten my motivation to ride. What can i say, I'm a visual kind of gal!

In the middle of my 'Erica Jong' fantasy, Eye Candy spoke to me. "Sunshine" was all he said. Wow, either he's reading my mind and joining in on my fantasy by giving me a pet name OR the sun just came out and i hadn't noticed. What i also hadn't noticed until the last moment was that after three hours of riding, the group had dwindled down from thirty to two - me and EC. We rode for another 1 1/2 hours before parting ways - not even names exchanged.

16 comments:

Joer said...

ha. so you'll be out tomorrow then?

PEANUT said...

tomorrow is friday.

Anonymous said...

If I were in Belgium I'd be your silent eye candy for as many kilometeres as you want, as long as you agreed to do the same for me :-D

Eye Candy said...

Thuesday, same place same time? I'll be there.
Thanks for showing me that nice climb, once we found it ;-)
CU

PEANUT said...

Dear EC: Wow, not only have you found me but you found me out! So, what was it - 'sunshine' because the sun came out or were you really able to read my thoughts? Actually, do NOT answer that question. I'd rather not know!

Dear Messenger of Doom: Thanks for offering your services in the form of kilometers. If it would have come in the form of miles, it would not have had the same desired effect!

Lorri Lee Lown -- velogirl said...

oooohhhh! romance! mystery! intrigue! my heart just skipped a beat. isn't that every cycling girl's fantasy -- to have some tall, dark, mysterious man show up on a ride just to see you (without you knowing it). you have a fan, Christine! or a stalker.

PEANUT said...

hey velogirl: Not sure if it was every cycling girl's fantasy, but it surely proved to be one of mine! LOVED your last word! TOO funny!

gewilli said...

I'll wager a vegan pizza that this EC dude was a figment of a tired and sex deprived brain... a vision of motivation from the deep subconscious.

;)

PEANUT said...

Gewilli: quite possibly...but if you are wrong, how will you get that vegan pizza to me?

gewilli said...

you'll just have to come stateside to collect your winnings ;)

PEANUT said...

maybe i can collect it at the first CX world cup. I heard it is still a possibility. Not sure if they will have a womens category, though. If so, maybe i can stay with your family again?
By the way, I win. Didn't you read the entry by Eye Candy himself - 4th comment down from the top? Yippee - free pizza! Gosh, i'm such a pizza hoe (or is it ho, i forget.)

gewilli said...

No pictures of Man in black = no pizza for you!

Your Suite is ready and waiting!

Anonymous said...

It's "who'"

Anonymous said...

"Ho."
-- E.C. Chamberlain (not Eye Candy, however)

Anonymous said...

No, the correct spelling is " Who' " because it is a dialectic pronunciation of 'whore'. The W is a silent one... it's pronounced 'hore'... or 'ho' for short.

Anonymous said...

In one of the two dictionaries I've worked for, the only spelling given for this black slang variant of "whore" is "ho." In the other, "ho" is preferred, followed, parenthetically, by "hoe" (considered rare) and "whoe" (very rare). No "who'" -- with or without an apostrophe. Nor could I find "who'" in any of the other fifteen or sixteen dictionaries scattered around the villa. Not that we want to go around justifying contemporary orthography with specious back-formations, but even “whore” itself strutted into English without the pimpy “W.”
-- E.C. Chamberlain