Family Camp

Tim and Jen on top of Mt. Diablo. What fun!

Meet Seth. (See photo above).

 Seth is Tim's kid brother. 

Poor Seth.

 Tormented throughout childhood by the character pictured below. 

Tim

Notice the two of them look pretty worked over. For the record I reached the top of the climb fresh as a daisy. Poor Seth. He doesn't ride as much as Tim and I. He was convinced we were going to play some crazy roadie games and try to make him hurt. I promised we had no tricks up our sleeves and said the hill would be sufficient. He didn't believe me. A lifetime of Tim and Bruce had made Seth no fool. At every switch back Seth accelerated, convinced it might be when we were going to launch an attack.  Tim, for the record, did bait Seth. Suggesting we had a hour left of climbing when there was in actuality 20 minutes left of climbing. I told Seth the truth, how many miles we had left. I told Seth it was ok to ease off in preparation for the final face. He didn't believe me. I pedaled along relatively comfortably (in the girly gear, 28)while the boys taunted each other. They would say something in Spanish, presumably a derogatory phrase meaning hurry up, followed by "your Popsicle is melting." I couldn't resist playing a little too. On gentler pitches I would drop into the aero bars and pedal past them belting out "It's time for me to climb" and to the tune of REO Speed wagons 1980's "It's time for me to Fly"

As we neared the top I warned Seth of the final face. It's a sucker punch that one. You can see the crest, but you have about 100 pedal strokes out of the saddle to get there. The road is narrow and it is steep enough you might consider zig zagging. I promised Seth earlier he could relax I wasn't going to go zipping off. We both stood up to muscle the final face and a car came up behind us. I didn't want to block the car so I zipped in front of Seth and jammed it to the top. Finishing just ahead of him. This all would have been forgotten if not for the family driving the car coming over to tell me how fun it was to watch the girl on the pink bike move ahead of the guy and beat him to the top. 

I didn't even intend to have an Idropboys story today. Well actually, I was planning to drop Tim and Seth on the way home. Tim however was feeling pretty fresh too . He knew my tricks and banished me to the back of the pace line. I told him he was ruining my blog story but complied. Seth pretended to be tired. Even downed a GU 5 miles from home. A mile from home he unleashes the biggest stomp one can imagine. I'm learning never trust a Neuschwander when it comes to athletics or dessert.