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There's No Place Like Home - SlingShot 08/21/05 Note: This article was neither completed nor published. Sometimes it shows up on somebody's Google search. ************ I feel a little like Dorothy just waking up from a dream, looking around the bed and realizing all my friends had just appeared in it. "And you, you were a scarecrow, and you a tin man, and you...you were a cowardly lion!" It is merely a wash of images, up very close and personal, just the chaotic shuffling of cards with spinning faces of friends that this year's Tour de Goshen had become, now a few hours past. Competitive, immediate, and dream like. All in a swirl rushing around me are Dr. Art, "Nuclear" Dan Buckley, "Dangerous" Dan Sullivan, Paul "My Widdle Weggies Huht" Latrine, Mary "The Black Widow" Endico, Doug "!" Allen, "Twin" George Meyer, Jim "The Assassin" Amels, Patrick Saunders, Joe Straub, Grant "Baby Seat" Salter, Anthony "Chuckie/Tony the Target" Defeo, "Slippery" Steve Jinx, plus Kevin "Godzilla" Hetzel. It is a major showing of strength as this group of American Road Cycling riders (mostly Ridgebury Prime Winners) assume overwhelming dominance at the front of this year's Tour de Goshen. Everybody is in stealth mode. Not wishing to broadcast their status as primary attack targets, nobody is wearing their Ridgebury Prime Jerseys. Dreams, like all alternate (and true) realities, are never limited to just one possible path. There are any number of descriptions that correctly explain equally well, but narration must make a choice, so here is a glimpse of one of the truths. The dream begins in the middle, and I am looking down at my trip computer. Paul has just triggered a few riders to go off the front in order to get away from somebody who is riding unsafely. I look down quickly at my trip computer as I'm being pulled along by Dr. Art. When Paul and his group made the break, I was stuck behind Dr. Art and Joe Straub who were chatting. Since I carefully watch all breaks to see who is in them, in order to know if I should follow, I noted Twin George, Paul, Mary and Dangerous in the mix and asked Dr. Art if the ride was leaving us, but he denied it saying, "Joe Straub's here. He'll get us back up there soon enough." I retorted, "Well, we'd better get up there right now, before it's too late for me." He made a quick surreptitious little gesture with his left hand low and beside his imaginary back pocket where he expected me to stay (I guess Joe wasn't supposed to see...: ) and ZOOM! Riders were dropped off to our right pretty as you please. My trip computer showed 33 mph, but just the mere looking down had pulled me a few feet back from Dr. Art's wheel, so feeling the wind in my face I yanked my eyes back up and picked up the pace to get back on. We blew around the last few stragglers and soon caught the breakaway. Once there I should have mentioned to Dr. Art that the next time I ask him to take me back to a group, if he would be so kind as to ignore me. I should have mentioned that, if I only I could have taken a breath and spoken.
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