So I go out for a 50 miler…going to crush this out and back from my garage into Deer Creek and return. My bike is tuned & gleaming. My Big George cycling apparel is making me look like I’ll knock out an average 361 watts over this 4000 foot gain of a ride. Rory could not better me on Flagstaff today I’m thinking.

There I am, passing the lowly folks, men and women admiring my awesomeness as I spin by effortlessly as the grade increases. Good lord, I’m full of myself.

I hear what first sounds like some superbike…maybe a Ducati (you’ll see these and the like going up and down the narrow turns in the canyon often). I felt the hair on my neck stand as the sound quickly became more familiar. Yes, a Doppler effect of carbon wheels being powered hard (one of the truly unique sounds of cycling for me).

My bike almost falls over as I notice this form in my left eye periphery…it literally scares me for a moment. I watch this young dude standing on the peds while in the drops rocking that bike like a paperboy as he rushes past me with such a volume of air in his drag that I had to concentrate to make my next turn of the crank. He was turning a 53 to a mid cassette with such sustained power I was flabbergasted. This section of grade is 7.8 percent…approaching a 13-15 % pressure around the next corner.

Done, baked and over. THAT was awesome and inspiring. I was humbled…and it came just when I needed it. I was getting to full of myself.

Thank you amazing stranger. You are the destroyer of gasbags like me on the road. I will ride now remembering there are always folks faster…and slower…but who enjoy cycling with a good balance of themselves