Bears Know Best

Chapter 13: New Ride

THE NEXT MORNING, I groggily got up and put on the set of cycling clothes that matched the set I'd bought Alyssa. I kind of hoped she'd wear the same set today for some reason. Mom was in the kitchen, where I grabbed a granola bar, then she handed me two water bottles that she had filled for me.

I gave her a hug, and said, "Thank you."

Once I had my shoes latched on, she followed me outside where Alyssa's family was already gathering for the ride.

"Ready Taylor?" her mom asked.

I nodded, "I think so." She could probably tell I was more than a bit apprehensive.

"Don't think that you have to be a hero today Taylor, if you're getting tired please let us know, and we'll cut the ride shorter." She told me. "We have plenty of time to torture you if you later!"

I could tell I was going to like her mom before, but I was sure of it now. "Thanks!" I told her.

I was a little unsteady in clipping in. For some reason I couldn't get my left cleat to lock in the way it was supposed to right away, but I eventually managed. Alyssa rode side by side with me, behind her parents for a while before the road narrowed and we went single file. Everyone, including me, rotated to the front for a bit of time before backing to behind the others again. It was a lot of fun, and I was kind of surprised that I was keeping up with their fairly brisk pace.

The computer on my bike read fifteen miles, when we made a turn to head back towards a place they said was just another five miles out, and we'd get breakfast. "So, you apparently rode more in Atlanta than you let on?" Alyssa asked me as the road widened enough for use to ride side-by-side again.

I smiled, "It was the best way to get away from Rachel sometimes."

She nodded, "I can understand that."

"Plus, Dad would take me on a lot of trail rides. It's one of the off-season training things he does."

"Cool," she said.

We spoke about some other things as we clipped along at close to twenty-miles-per-hour the whole time. Closer to town I sensed that her parents really wanted to speed up, and so I just nodded to Alyssa and the two of us passed them so we could set the pace. They passed us though and raced for an invisible finish line somewhere, with Alyssa racing to fend them off. I just kept riding and tried to ride their coattails somehow!

Everyone was laughing and having a good time as they let me catch up and we rode in to their normal Sunday breakfast stop. It was handy that they had a bike rack in front of the restaurant, and we soon had everything locked up, and walked in with cleat covers on our shoes.

"You did really well Taylor," Alyssa's dad told me. "How's the new bike working?" he asked.

"It's really responsive," was the best I could come up with to describe it. Honestly it was kind of unnerving with how little movement it took to get it to turn. If I wasn't careful, I thought I could fall over with as light as it was. The wind was fairly light that day, but a couple gusts had tried to push me over.

The four of us took our saddlebags off of our bikes and placed them in our helmets that we carried to a booth the waitress led us to. "Hi Jessica, Greg," a waitress came over, "Alyssa," and looked at me. "How are you all doing?"

"We're doing well Cathy," Alyssa's dad replied.

"And who's this?" she asked curiously.

I figured the fact that Alyssa and I were dressed in the same outfit was making her more curious. "This is Taylor," Alyssa's mom answered. "She just moved here last weekend, and she and Alyssa are joined at the hip already."