I Owe Someone $10

About a month ago, pro cyclist Chris Horner of Team RadioShack announced that he would be riding the Clark’s Corner Cycling Challenge in Ione, California, on September 18th. Knowing that Ione isn’t too far away, I went ahead and signed up for the short 10-mile ride with Chris.

My biggest concern was that I was signing up for this chance to ride with Chris, but in all likelihood wouldn’t actually ride along side of him. I even joked, “$10 says I can’t hang on for more than 30 seconds.” Maybe I was expecting something like Levi’s GranFondo where the pros all started at the front and took off, leaving those of us at the back without a prayer of riding with any of them. (Skip to the end for the Cliff Notes version of this story.)

In an interview Friday morning on a local TV station, Chris was asked a question that I submitted via Facebook. “Will you ride slowly enough for me to keep up?” Chris laughed and replied, “I can.” Being a teacher, I know there is a huge difference between “can” and “will,” but this didn’t make me any less excited that maybe my chances of keeping up weren’t as slim as I originally thought.

Though I wasn’t quite anticipating a ride on the scale of Levi’s GranFondo, I did expect there to be a couple hundred people there. Really, this was a chance to ride with the top placing American in this year’s Tour de France – an all around well-loved man with a constant smile plastered on his face. What cycling fan wouldn’t want a chance to ride with him even if the chances of riding with him were slim?

Keeping that in mind, and the fact that I’ve only ever been through Ione once, I headed up there in the morning and arrived about an hour early for the 11 AM ride. The plan was to get a chance to meet Chris briefly and have my picture taken with him. My mom is also a fan and I thought it would be funny to send her a photo of us without telling her any story of how it came to be.

When I checked in, I got a glimpse of the registration list. I was shocked to note that my class roster was longer than the registration for this ride. I have 31 students in my class. At that point, I realized that my chances of meeting Chris were guaranteed and the chances of riding along side of him were favorable.

Settling in to wait for the ride to start, I grabbed a coffee in Clark’s Corner and sat outside on the curb to enjoy it.

Chris arrived a few minutes later with a small group of cyclists, having ridden from Sacramento. I finished my coffee and timidly approached him, not wanting to interrupt the conversation he was having. Eventually I got my chance to meet him and have my photo taken with him then stood around and listened to him tell stories about his ride to Ione.

Chris chatted with fans, took pictures, and signed autographs.

Bikes outside of Clark's Corner - mine is on the far left and Chris's is right in front of it.

A little bit after 11:00, the ride started. The pace was quite slow and easy, but I was stuck behind three cyclists riding the span of the lane and couldn’t get by them to reach the front where Chris was mingling with some riders. After about five minutes, I found my way around them and quickly made my way up to Chris’s group, where I rode behind him for a couple of miles.

The pace was considerably slower than I normally ride and I found myself inching forward every couple of minutes and having to back off some. At one point as we were approaching a hill (not a real climb, but it was more than what I’m used to), the guy riding directly in front of me and next to Chris let off suddenly and dropped back. This was my cue to get out of my saddle and move forward in the group. Before I knew it, I was right along side of Chris, and even keeping up with him while going uphill. Before reaching the top, I did fall back from Chris but easily caught up with the group on the descent.

The weather and scenery were beautiful... I wonder what it looks like green.

As we were heading back towards Ione, I somehow ended up right next to Chris again. This time I ended up in a conversation with him. I kind of wasn’t expecting it, but I felt a hand tapping my shoulder as he was chatting away telling a story about his teammate, Levi Leipheimer. We chatted about the weather and I explained to him that the only reason it was nice was that everyone else was already in Greenville for the championships. We talked a little bit about the US Pro road race he’d be racing in the following day and I asked him how much travel he’d done over the last week, a question to which he didn’t know the answer except that it was more than normal. I’m currently kicking myself for not thinking to ask about cyclocross until I was on my way home.

The ride continued through landscape surrounding Ione without incident, except for the people we lost along the way because the rode in front of the guy leading the ride and took a wrong turn. As promised, I didn’t make Chris crash, nor did anybody else.

From the back of the group... not a lot of people at all. (There may have been some more behind me, but they were far back.)

He’s certainly every bit as friendly as everyone says he is. In fact, I think his approachability exceeded my expectations. He had a way of drawing people into conversations and making them feel like they were part of the group.  I can't believe I was part of that group.

I guess I owe someone $10.

When I arrived home, I promptly sent my mom a photo of Chris and me. She loved it and had a reaction similar to that of a 13-year-old girl if I’d just told her I met Justin Bieber.

More photos can be seen on my Flickr.