I rode with Levi today

Yes, you read right-- I'm not kidding. Well, I may have only rode with him for 100 feet.

Let me back up and start at the beginning.  I took off around 11:30 from my office in provo (I turned down an invite to golf for this ride--good thing).  I took it easy up the parkway to Sundance canyon.  It was hot and I was suffering.  I rested for a few minutes at Sundance and then started back up the road.  As I was passing the firestation, I saw 4 riders coming out of the Sundance parking lot.  I wondered if they were coming up the loop or heading down.  A few hundred feet later, I looked back and they were coming up-and they were coming fast.  My ego required me to kick it into gear.  Even with my acceleration, they caught me at the first sweeping right curve.  In their acceleration to catch me, the four had become three.  I was feeling the heat and I thought to myself, "how embarrasing to be caught by these guys."  As they came up on my left side, we exchanged hello's.  I, of course, first checked out their bikes.  My eye went to the middle guys bike.  It was a Trek, in Astana colors, with a name by the seat post that said Leipheimer.  I did a double take--Astana socks, Astana shorts, Astana jersey of the current US cycling champion, and then the face.  Yep, it was Levi.  I about fell over.  I can't even tell you who the other two guys were--they may have been famous, but I was so shocked to see Levi.  I grabbed my iphone and tried to catch up to them for a picture.  I snapped a quick one that actually turned out ok, and then I fell off the back and gasped for breath.  I yelled out something like "Go Levi!!!, We'll miss seeing you in the Tour!!!"  Cheesy, yes, stupid, yes, but heck, my brain activity levels were being severely affected by the lack of oxygen and altitude.

I felt much better about being caught by other riders when I realized that it was a podium rider from the TDF last year.  These guys were fast and I'm sure that they weren't even pushing it.  It was awesome to see--They operate a totally higher level.

The fourth guy caught me near Aspen Grove.  He was decked out in bicycling magazine attire and riding a Cervelo.  He had an accent and moved on quickly trying to minimize his gap with the other three guys.  I didn't see the group of three again, though the Bicycling Mag rider came back down Provo side from the summit.

Now for the boring ride report of the rest of the ride.  I made it to the summit and decided to give the AF side a shot.  I descended the AF side and took it easy all the way to the toll booth (I guess that's what you would call it).  All the way down it was quite depressing to think, I have to go back up this...Crap.  I thought about riding through town and back to my office, but decided to stick to the plan.  I flipped around and the booth and started going back up.  I stopped a few times to dip my head in the river and to refill water bottles at Timpanogos Cave.  I suffered but kept going.  It was slow going up.  I have to say, it was a mentally challenging ride for me.  Right after the tibble fork turn off, you see the road rise up in front of you and you think, that hill is going to hurt.  Your eyes automatically look up higher on the hill side and in the distance you see the road cut into the hill that you have to climb--pretty depressing.  

I limped over the summit and descended down Provo Canyon.  I wanted to stop and get a snowie at Vivian park, but I needed to get back to the office.

60 miles, 4 1/2 hours of ride time, a Levi sighting.  It was good ride.  I pushed my limits today. 

On a side note, I had sport beans, honey stingers, and nuun on my ride today.  I'm sticking with the sport beans (orange and watermelon) and the honey stingers, but I'm done with nuun.  The eLoad heat endurance is a better way to go.  I will give a detailed review later with my reasons.