I crawled out of bed at five AM the first morning of the year, having forgone any party to hit the sack at nine on New Year’s Eve. An hour later, I was hauling my bike out of the bike house, groping around in the dark to find my cold weather riding gear. A New Year’s Day ride was starting at 8 somewhere west of where I live – not sure exactly where, but I had a general idea. An hour later I was cruising down the hill, leaving the crisp clear air of Tonto Hills to ride in the stale air of Phoenix with a bunch of guys I didn’t know who were almost certainly faster than me.
This was the second annual NYD ride, organized by Timothy, of underground crit fame. A group of about 40 riders started out neutral on a flat course. After the first turn, they wound it up and spit me off the back. There was an A group, a B group, and a bunch of stragglers. I ended up chasing with 2 other guys, happy knowing there were still a bunch of riders behind us.
