Linda is driving, country music plays on the radio, I'm eating Helen's Sun Chips and drinking a cold pop while I process the Huckleberry Ride and it is all sweet.

A perfect day with a bit of breeze brought out 22 riders for our annual trek from Deary to Elk River and back. This is my kind of ride. The hills are mostly rollers. The worst of the climbs come on the return in the heat of the day but even those are short. No long climbs. A good ride for aerobars to help me maximize the rolling descents and my spinning pace. Sweet

Dave is with us. He's ridden out from Moscow and would like to make this day a century. Good to have someone to share the sweetness of long spinning miles. Sweet.

Dave and Doug and I did 117 miles from Moscow to Tekoa and back on Saturday. I don't feel too bad this morning though I'm trying to match Dave's back to back centuries. Stephanie joined us for the ride out to Tekoa. She's still on a hyrbrid but most of conversations was about selecting a new road bike. She likes the road and distance. Sweet.

Doug had never done that long a ride, but he had no problem. Guess all those gravel road hill climbs were the equivalent of my road miles. Sweet.

At Deary bicyclists appeared early. Bill Arnold, Gary and Donna, Bill and Helen on the tandem (damn tandem, Tom Witt from Troy, Mike (Nicki was doing a half-marathon in Oregon), Rory and Tamara, Jim and Wanda, Jim McCracken in his first Huckleberry ride, Barb Leachman, Lee Bower, Kat Popham who claims to have done an ice cream ride or two, and Lance who joined us at Bovill. All these folks out to enjoy my favorite pastime. Sweet.

And who's this? Debbie Whitely? Back on a bike! Scott's there too and riding the right direction for once, but it is Debbie's return that is sweet.

And Sonia.

She's from Royal City near Othello and she was riding an Orbea. She's lean and leathery and I don't expect she'll have any trouble today and tell her so. She learned about the ride from Bicycle Paper. Sweet.

A mile or so out of Deary I notice Sonia is three bikes back. Gary's shot out ahead. Neither Dave nor I want to let this thing turn into a race which it is inclined to do. I drop back and tell Sonia, "We ride about nine miles, hit the stop sign and turn right. Next stop, Elk River."

A minute later she's gone and Gary's being pulled in. Sweet. I'll catch her twice on the return but I will never pass her. She's enjoying these hills. She doesn't get much hill work in Royal City. Lot's of wind training though.

In Bovill no one stops. AS my group arrives, we can see three riders spinning off toward Elk River. We wait a bit. Lance joins us. Finally we figure we are at the back and head off.

Lee has trouble shifting into granny. I stop to help him and my group goes on. I know I won't catch them before they top out on this first steep climb. I find myself alone again. This is not bad when you have tired legs. Don't want to find yourself a mini-challenge with Dave. I don't have to worry about being dropped and I can do my own pace. I see a rider ahead of me just cresting the hill, and now I have a target. Sweet.

And gradually I catch a handful of riders and ride along with them and talk. Jim and Lance and Linda. Tom Witt and I ride quite a ways together until we catch Debbie who is riding strong and only a couple of miles out of Elk River. Tom doesn't go with me as the road levels out and then begins to rise again. I feel the wind at my back and I'm spinning lifting my knees high and diving my toes down. I'm in the aerobars and in my zone. I ride on alone. The faster riders are already in Elk River, but I'm cruising. Sweet.

The huckleberries were ripe despite our cold spring. Mike has huckleberry pie ala mode--huckleberry ice cream. Who am I to argue with the man who has served as club president at least twice in my memory. I follow suit. Sweet.

Linda's a bit sullen about riding back. The return starts with a nasty climb and it is warm. Rory and Tamara went for a swim. I'm surprised Linda didn't go with them. Will there be a head wind? Will we get in a paceline and hammer? My legs hope not.

And there she is, Sonia, out in front on that climb. Dave's right behind. I find a lower gear and begin spinning. I gain on them catching Dave just at the top. He's feeling the miles. I've moved to my aerobars; he hasn't. I call out "aerobars" as I pass but he doesn't answer with words or pace. And then I'm descending. I feel good. The road is open. Descending is not my favorite thing, but this road isn't too steep and I can stay aero. Sonia is just a pink jersey out ahead. I'm not gaining. But on the hills, she's a fraction slower. Sweet.

I wheel up beside her her. "I wanted to mention that this is a ride not a race," I tell her. She laughs. And we are talking. No longer chasing, my pace has slackened. "I'll try to stay with you for a while," I say, not confident I could keep up even without a long Saturday ride in my legs should she want to push the issue. She doesn't and we settle into a comfortable pace. Sweet.

Damn that Tandem. Bill and Helen are catching us. I know what this means and i don't like it. "Do we need to pick up the pace?" Sonia asks.

"No, I don't have the legs today."

I drop back behind her to let the tandem pass and there's Lance sucking wheel for all he's worth. He goes with Sonia and they are both off.

And then I see it, that long steep climb that finishes the sweeping 1 to 2 percent we have had for several miles. I'm not ready and I know, for me, this is a grinder. Even the tandem passes me up this hill. I can't catch them before they descend the other side. They've dropped me nicely. I'm alone again. Is this sweet? Catching them would be sweet but first I've got to catch the tandem and that's not going to be easy.

I come around a bend and see the first of a series of down hill sections followed by what appears to be a wall and on the wall, I see them all and I'm climbing faster than they are. It almost appears I'll catch them. Are they actually waiting for me? Sweet.

And then they are over and gone again. If they waited, they were unwilling to hold back on a descent. But now we are on the next hill and I'm catching the tandem. Where I'm finding the legs, I don't know, but I am. I won't catch that wheel-sucking Lance nor Sonia, but I'll hit Bovill with the tandem. Sweet.

The tandem passes me on the downhill as I knew it would, but it doesn't stop. I let it ride off climbing out of Bovill toward Deary. I can see Sonia, too. But now she's gone. I spin up to catch the tandem near the top of the climb. If I'm not drafting them at the top, they'll get away for sure. I'm doubtful whether I can hang on, but I'm going to try and my legs are cooperating. Sweet.

I stay in contact on the descents and catch the tandem on the hills. And we are doing 25 mph. We may catch Sonia at that. Sweet.

Three miles from Deary, we do. Bill and Helen can't quite close the gap and I spin around and once more Sonia and I are spinning along talking. "This is the last hill," I tell her. Now we could have been spinning along comfortably all along if it hadn't been for that damn tandem. But today was my day, not Bill's. The tandem, Sonia, and I coasted into Deary together. Sweet.

If you stay within your zone, you can ride pretty fast with less effort than going slow. Grinding takes it out of you. If the conditions permit, speed up--stand for a few strokes--and learn to spin. Oh, and get a set of aerobars. Sweet.

At Deary Dave says, "I'm done." He's had enough for the weekend and won't be riding back to Moscow. "Too, much headwind," he says.

"What head wind?" I ask. Honestly, I hadn't noticed any head wind. I had been concentrating on staying with the tandem and chasing Sonia. I didn't miss the head wind at all. Sweet.

Beer, chips, pop, shade, and conversation with friends in Deary's park, sweet. The focus is just where I want it--planning more rides for the remainder of the season. Sweet.

Doug joined Scott and Sean for a ride on the prairie from Keuterville near Cottonwood for the day. Don't know if Doug will do a post but Sean's put his pictures on Facebook. If you have a facebook account, log in and you'll see pictures from a group who think it is pretty sweet to suffer up a gravel road at 5 mph and then come flying down.

Tanya Tucker sings "I'm down to my last tear drop now" on the S10's radio. I relax feeling any troubles wash away. A great day on the bike is cleansing like this. Tomorrow, the wind may blow. I don't care. I'm taking the day off. Sweet.

For the ride of it Corrie