Turkey Day Herky Jerky

Thanksgiving day started off with Normal Pre-Ride Rituals of caffeine, cereal, rat petting and couch lounging.

Then, a dig into the dryer for a clean chammy, matching gloves, mismatching socks, some kind of base layer that may now be gray although once was white, then a jersey or four, depending on weather.

Next, fill up some bottles after spilling drink mix on the counter, shaken and stirred, and then repeatedly try different bottle caps until one fits sufficiently.

This day seemed like any other, until 5 minutes before departure time. I was in the garage, dressed in the usual black/red/silver Cheerwine costume, when in struts Terry, with some super-hyper-freaky mish mosh ensemble that he found in the archives of his closet.

1. Neon yellow Saunier Duval Jersey, signed by Fast Freddie Rodriguez, ala 2003.
2. Marble and purple bib shorts found in a sale bin in Belgium? France? Purchased with DFL racing in mind, I'm sure. They have some Aztec writing on the leg, spelling Best?
3. Green Yellow and blue arm warmers from McGuire/Langdale Pro team days, which say Sports Basement on the side, which is very now.
4. Electric blue leg warmers
5. Red shoe covers
6. Matching neon yellow SD cap.

7. Stylin’ 7-eleven issue Eddie Merckx

This outfit represents no less than 4 teams from local, renegade team to Pro tour team. Brilliant.

As we set out with innocuously dressed Nick and routinely dressed Sarah, Terry was starting to embody a kind of alternative Macy's Day Parade in his showy display. We were the spectators and he was the parade. There were many other cyclists out, and some looked at him and chuckled, some did a double or triple-take, but some didn't even notice! The latter were the ones that worried me.

As the ride continued across the Golden Gate Bridge in the beautiful and crisp morning, the more I felt like I was the dork here. If I had known before I left the house and went into the garage all fully chammied that there was going to be a Dress! Crazy! Day! on the bike, I would have been happy to shed all pretense and find my Carrera/bigmat/Fast Freddie/Retro80's Campy/Argyle clothes and join in the self deprecating yet hip irony of the moment. Now I just looked like someone who maybe was too self-conscious to do it too. But I sensed this was Terry’s moment, and I was more than happy to have him be the center of attention.

Usually, whenever purple comes into play, there is something ugly happening.
Terry's Team Car coming up with some bidons.
Not all the scenery was so gaudy-here we are looking south to Pacifica.
Clear enough to see the Farallons, bottom left corner. (behind the oil slick)
Looking north at Stinson Beach and Bolinas.
Making Freddie proud on the GG Allen Bridge. (nice man-toe)
It couldn't have gotten any better for us, and we didn't plan this. Have you ever seen this on the road in between Stinson and Pan Toll? It really is there. I think this outfit screams louder than the message.