More riding! On bicycles, this time!

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Viewing Note: This story should be viewed with the Edwardian Script ITC font installed on your Windows platform in the c:/Windows/Fonts directory. Microsoft Word installs this font automatically.

Photo Credit: Used with her permission....“Let Me In”  © by simpledrama .
 

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Chapter 11
 

“Hey, Gaby!”

“Hi, Erin!” Gaby turned to see Erin walk out from behind the counter.

“You look frozen,” Erin pointed out.

“It's friggin' cold this morning!”

“That sounds like Drew talking,” Erin pointed out with a mischievous smile.

“Sorry ... old habits ... how come you’re all alone?” Gaby replied, looking at some bike parts on the store shelves.

“Don just ran over to grab a muffin ... he’ll be back ... then we can start ... that’s if the others are on time.” Seeing Gaby wasn’t properly dressed for the ride, Erin suggested, “Hang on, hun … I've got a spare jacket you can use.”

“Thanks!” an appreciative Gaby replied.

While waiting, Gaby checked out Erin's stock. In her mind most bike shops had similar stuff, a load of mountain bikes and a variety of assorted BMX, kids and road bikes. However, Erin's shop seemed to have more of a road slant than most shops she’d seen; then thinking about it she’d realized she’d seen only a few BMX`ers in town and one or two off road enthusiasts.

“Here you go” Erin passed Gaby a pink jacket, “Sorry about the colour.”

As she opened it up, Gaby realized it was a Lampre jersey so as far as she was concerned it was a proper team jacket and that made it perfectly okay. By the time she had it on over all her other stuff most of the others had assembled.

“You've filled your bottles today ... right?” Aidan asked as Gaby joined them out in the cold.

“Made sure … this time! Sorry for all the fuss last week.”

“We needed some excitement,” Frank put in.

“Where're we going?” Gaby asked Diane as they started off into the cold morning.

“New Market!” Diane replied.

“I think we went there the other week … some horse place,” Gaby recalled.

“Yeah … they’re into their horseflesh up there,” Frank voiced.

Their route took them onto the 340 north out of Grottoes. Diane advised that the northbound ride would be pretty flat as they followed the South River across Rockingham County and into Page County. There they turned to climb through the George Washington National Forest before swinging into New Market. Gaby soon settled into a steady cadence watching Aidan's back tire as they group headed past the Port Republic turn.

They kept up a steady eighteen to twenty mph as they rolled through Elkton and Gaby soon noticed a couple of twitchy looks amongst her companions. “That could mean only one thing, sprint coming up! What did Diane say earlier, 'through Elkton and into Page County’, that'll be it … the county sign.”

Gabs surreptitiously checked her state of readiness. “Hmmm ... unless they leave it to the last minute I can break out and...” A grin formed on Gaby’s face as she got ready.

“What's so funny Gaby?” Diane asked.

“Oh nothing ... just thinking about something Jules said last night.”

“Must've been good,” she mumbled.

“Just something about Mad's boyfriend … you had to be there,” Gaby explained trying to keep Diane off guard.

Up in front, Aidan was looking a bit anxious and Gaby could see Erin's hand discreetly poised to change gear.

“Not much traffic here,” Gaby nonchalantly mentioned while she seemingly looked around at the countryside.

“They all use the Interstate … just a few locals use this road now-a-days,” explained Erin as she glanced back to Gaby.

Suddenly Gaby heard it, the expected tell-tale ‘click’ from behind her.

“See ya!” Gaby called over to Diane. She took a quick glance behind before gearing up a sprocket and launching herself out of Aidan's slipstream.

“Shit!” Someone exclaimed as Gaby cleared the front of the group, just as Diane was just about to make her own gear change.

After bolting from the group, Gaby sat back down to gather herself. She spotted the sign about four hundred metres in front on a slight rise after a long deep dip.
Again she’d decided to pedal through a descent in order to gain momentum on the up side rather than free-wheel down the slope. A rattle of gears and heavy breathing announced that she had company this time and guessed it was Erin, Aidan and Diane – no probs. She realized that by sitting down, she probably had given them the impression she was knackered after her sprint. Figuring to let them get comfortable in their beliefs, Gaby continued to let them think just that!

Keeping in the role of the struggling cyclist, she upped the revs a bit as a token bit of futile resistance and then waited as first one, then a second changed gear. “Wait for it... wait for it..." (kerchunk!) "Yep … three … time to go."

Hearing the third gear change, Gaby pushed her own up shift lever, ‘clunk’ and for a second time she was out of the saddle. The distance was closing rapidly and then with the speedometer showing forty kilometres per hour, the road reared up and the sign disappeared out of site over a false summit. She was temped to keep the drive going, but instead let her hill climbing experience stop her from gearing down too soon. The false summit was steeper than it looked but she kept out of the saddle and danced on the pedals all the way to the county border - a further twenty metres. Gaby was another couple of hundred metres down the road before Erin came alongside.

“How ... (puff) ... did ... (puff) ... you ... (puff) ... know?”

“That'd be telling,” Gaby slyly replied.

“Gaby!”

“Ummm ... Diane said we were crossing into the next county earlier ... an’ you guys told me when.”

“How?” Aidan inquired, coming up from behind them.

“Easy! You were all checking your gears and the traffic ... an’ I was just watching you,” Gaby confided.

“I told you,” Diane stated as she pulled alongside the small group, “She’s a smart one!”

“What do you reckon Erin?” Frank joined in as he pulled alongside. “You think she’s up to it?”

“Up to what?” Gaby wanted to know.

“Oh nothing,” Diane playfully offered. Gaby promptly stuck her tongue out at her. When Erin saw Gaby’s reaction, she smiled to herself. “Drew finds it so natural to be Gaby. If I didn’t know better...”

“Erin?” Gaby's question brought Erin out of her daydream.

“Looks a bit nasty over the pass,” Rob voiced.

For the first time since they left Grottoes, Gaby took note of the weather. It was still pretty grey but over to the left it looked really nasty, the clouds having that faintly bruised look that usually means snow.

“Better get going!” Frank suggested, “Hopefully we can beat it.”

The atmosphere in the group became more serious as a result of the change in the weather. The miles rolled away at a fast pace as they crossed and re-crossed the South River. Gaby noticed they passed the turn for the caves at Luray. Their route edged towards the tree line to their left as well as the apparent weather front. A few snowflakes were blowing about but other than a few small pockets they weren't settling.

The next junction put them on the 211 and Derek grunted, “Only five miles” as they headed into the gathering wind and started the climb through George Washington ‘Mount’.

Gaby reached back and clicked her taillight on. The other traffic was driving fully lit and Frank suggested everyone else do the same. As they dropped off the ‘mountain' and out of the trees the snow eased back to flurries and then out of the greyness the roofs of New Market appeared. It was the idea of food and warmth that propelled the cyclists into the parking lot of “Lara’s Pantry”. Once through the door, the heat made Gaby’s body tingle as she started to thaw out.

“Heya” Derek called to the woman who looked up from the counter as they made their noisy entrance.

“Geez ... you guys look frozen!” greeted a middle-aged woman that Gaby assumed was Lara.

“Bikini weather, it’s not!” Aidan wisecracked.

“I got the back parlour reserved for you ... all nice an’ toasty-like.” Lara was already pouring out several large coffees. “Coffee for everyone?” she called out, addressing the group in general.

“Nine coffees and a hot tea for Gaby ... thanks, Lara,” Frank replied.

Gaby blindly followed the others through what appeared to be a cross between a bakery and coffee shop. An elderly couple gave them a dirty look for disturbing their quiet time, as they trooped through into the ‘back parlour'. The ‘back room’ was just a second room with tables. The best part was the roaring fire that Lara had promised!
By the time they were seated after peeling off their winter gear, Lara was bringing in the drinks.

“You folks sure picked a day to come out.”

“You know us Lara” Erin offered.

“That I do ... I told Hank to rustle up some hot food for y’all ... we got bacon and potato soup … that okay?”

“That’ll be fine, Lara ... long as it’s hot!” Frank replied.

Once the food arrived and everyone started ‘chowing down’ on the hot soup, conversation resumed an air of normalcy. The bowls were huge and a plate of still warm fresh rolls had everyone engrossed for a while. It was when they were well into their second coffees that Gaby even remembered Frank’s earlier question.

“What did Frank mean ... am I up to it?” Gaby asked a nearby Erin.

“Sorry?”

“Frank asked if I was up to something.”

“Not a clue.”

“Go on! Ask her! Don’t keep her in suspense!” Aidan urged.

“Okay … maybe I will!” Erin defiantly exclaimed. “Gabs … would you consider joining our team for the Atlanta Winter Classic?” The name sounded familiar to Gaby, but she couldn’t place it.

“Join you?” Gaby asked.

“Yeah ... it’s in two weeks. We go down Friday morning and come back on the Sunday.” Frank volunteered.

Gaby finally recalled there was an article in the comic the previous year about it. It’s one of those mass participation events like they have with the big Euro tours. Suddenly, the idea of getting away from Grottoes and catching a bike race seemed like a good idea.

“I'd love to … but … I'd need to get Miss Bell’s permission,” Gaby lamented. Her expression turned sour as she started to doubt that they’d let her go.

“All taken care of!” Diane announced to the shocked teenager.

“Yer kidding!” Gaby countered.

“I’ve already talked to Jessica Bell! She said she and a Miss Coal-e-shaw would okay it ... if you wanted to go,” Diane enthusiastically replied.

“In that case ... count me in!” Gaby responded.

“Hold it, girl. Don’t you wanna know what yer getting into, first?” Erin cautiously asked.

“Um ... okay ... but I still wanna do it!” Gaby enthused.

“Great ... we’ll have a lot of fun, Gabs!” Aidan enthused.

“Before we start makin’ motel reservations ... listen to me,” Erin soberly advised. “We’re talkin’ about a 90 mile tour of the suburbs around Atlanta ... with a lot of big climbs thrown in.”

“Don’t scare her off, Erin!” barked Diane with a grin on her face.

“Erin’s right though, Gabs. It’s a 90 mile race around the city of Atlanta ... and there are hills ... some are pretty big like she said ... but it’s all in the suburbs ... nothing like the rides we’ve been doing here.”

“Yeah ... it’s like riding through Grottoes, only Atlanta’s a lot bigger!” Aidan added.

“... ‘kay ... so?” Gaby wondered as she looked into the faces of her American friends.

“So! ... Have you ever done 90 miles?” Derek ventured.

“A couple of times. Once I even rode with Mum an’ the rest of the team on a 200 kilometre training ride ... an’ some of that was in the mountains,” Gaby allowed as she looked at Erin and Diane.

“The whole distance?” Rob asked in amazement.

“Umm ... not exactly. George had me rest in the support van for a few kilometres ... but I insisted I could re-join the others after a few minutes!” Gaby added.

“How far you think you rode?” now it was Frank’s turn to ask a question.

“Ummm ... I guess about 190 kilometres in total,” Gaby sheepishly admitted.

“You think you kin do it again?” Erin asked. “I mean you have no problem with these rides ... but then again they’re not exactly 90 miles. It’s all up to you, hun.”

“I know I can do it!” Gaby confidently enthused.

“Okay ... we just had to make sure you knew what you were up against and that you felt that you could do it,” Diane put in as she looked into Gaby’s eyes.

“Just one mo’ thing, hun ... it’s not a race ... leastways not like the ones you’ve ridden. There’s no individual prizes or points. It’s all about the team,” Erin started to explain.

Diane quickly added, “Even though there’ll be a mix of Pro and amateur teams ... like us ... it’s the first team that gets five of their members across the finish line ... wins.”

“Still want in?” Erin asked.

“Yep!” Gaby grinned.

“Hey, Rob?”

“Frank?”

“Gaby's agreed to ride the ‘Classic’...”

“Great! We'll have a chance then!” Rob allowed as he nonchalantly raised his coffee mug in a toast to Gaby.

“Hey Erin! Bring her over this afternoon and Derek can get her measured up!” Diane called out.

“I can give you my jersey size now, Derek!” Gaby offered thinking that’s what they meant by measuring her.

“Jersey? You thought ... Diane tell her, will ya?” an exasperated Derek chimed in.

“We need to measure you so we can build you that bike you spec’d out last weekend,” Diane casually mentioned.

“Build me a bike? What about Erin’s GT?” Gaby’s excitement was clearly building.

“No way … Gab-ay! Our top rider gets a top bike!” Diane proudly offered. “Oops! No disrespect intended, Erin.”

“None taken,” Erin grinned.

“The GT’s fine … really!” Gaby protested.

Deep down, Gaby knew what her parents would say and despite her own feelings, she found herself trying to convince Diane not to do it.

“It's a waste Diane ... all that trouble for one race and the expense ... there's no way I could even afford to buy it after the race.”

“Don't be so ridiculous, girl ... I'm offering you the bike! I never said anything about paying for it did I?” Diane admonished Gaby.

“No...” Gaby admitted.

“Listen to her Gabs,” Erin calmly added.

“But it'll be wasted ... just for one race,” Gaby repeated.

“Definitely not wasted,” Derek casually added while doing an incredible ‘Rainman’ impression ala Dustin Hoffman.

“Please Gab?” Diane pleaded.

Gaby went through the motions of thinking about it and then gave into her competitive instincts as she announced her decision.

“You talked me into it. Thank you ... everyone!”

“Told ya she’d do it!” Aidan beamed as he smiled at Gaby.

They left “Lara’s Pantry” and New Market with a few flakes of snow still falling from the dark clouds covering northern Virginia. The thirty mile ride back across Rockingham County was hard work but nothing dampened Gaby’s spirits. They were just south of Harrisonburg before they broke clear of the weather, which at times just coated the paved road while in other places the wind blew it around causing white out conditions and still in other areas it was only a few flakes. As they made their way back towards Port Republic, the skies cleared and the only signs of the winter weather were a few stray flakes and a slick road.

Due to the weather and the length of the ride, the group decided to skip the usual end-of-ride sprint and instead went off to their individual homes while anyone still had the stamina to make it. Gaby headed back with Erin. She was to drive her out to the Briggs place as well as get the necessary final permission from Jocelyn for Gaby to attend the Winter Classic.

“So you're gonna drop her at the Jones' after this measure-up thing, Erin?”

“No problem Joce,” Erin assured her. As she put down the phone, Erin turned her attention to a freshly-showered Gaby. “You got everything, hun?”

“Yeah ... I think so,” Gaby replied.

“C’mon, then ... Don's gonna lock up the Cyclery ... so I don't have a reason to rush back into town,” Erin allowed.

Making their way out to Diane’s place, Erin's pickup finally turned off the county road and instead of going up to the house, they pulled straight into the Biggs' factory yard, where Diane waited for them.

“Let’s get inside … Derek’s all set up! You got your cycling shoes Gab?” Diane stated as Gaby opened the passenger door.

“Ummm …yeah ... in my bag,” Gaby replied as she grabbed her sports bag.

“They may be a tad big ... but … I think I’ve some jeans that might be more practical than that skirt. C’mon with me,” Diane offered. Soon they returned with Gaby sporting a pair of rolled up jeans, held up with another makeshift rope belt.

“C’mon, Gaby! This is no time to start being shy,” Diane encouraged.

Gaby followed her through to Derek's computer room where he was already fiddling with stuff.

“Heya, Gab … Erin!” Derek enthused as the ladies entered his domicile.

“Hi, Derek!“ Erin replied.

“Hiya,” Gaby nervously added while she kept one hand holding the waist of her borrowed jeans.

“Right!” Derek sharply stated. “Let’s get started!”

Having adjustments done to her bike by her dad was one thing, but being measured for a custom frame was quite a new experience for Gaby. Diane and Derek were starting from scratch. Derek went on about biometrics and stuff while Gaby changed into her cycling shoes. Next, she was seated on a jig that only bore a passing resemblance to a bike frame. The whole thing was connected to Derek’s computer and he played with several different positions before settling on what everyone felt were the final measurements of the perfect frame for Gaby.

“Okay Gaby … we’re done here! You can go to your sleepover now,” Diane grinned.

“Oh, joy...” Gaby sarcastically mumbled.

“Thanks ... see you on Wednesday?” Gaby hopefully inquired.

“Weather permitting,” Diane agreed.

“C’mon … Miss Bond! You're late enough for this affair as it is,” Erin cajoled.

Erin knew how Gaby felt about attending the sleepover and several times on the way over she asked Gaby if she’d rather spend the weekend with her. It was nearly five by the time they arrived at the Jones' place.

“You really okay with this, Drew?” Erin asked as Gaby gathered her stuff.

“No ... but I guess I'll survive. By the way … thanks for inviting me to the race and everything!” Gaby replied.

“Blame Aidan ... it was his idea. Only wish I thought of it first.”

“I’ll be sure to thank him...”

“Ya know? I kind of think he likes Gaby!” Erin revealed.

“No way!” a blushing Gaby exclaimed.

“Way,” Erin smirked.

A pool of light suddenly appeared in front of the pickup as a door opened.

 
 
Comments are gratefully appreciated

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To Be Continued...