RIDE AND SHINE

It is early morning, and a group of men in brightly colored jerseys gather on their trusted bicycles ready to ride their way around the Hangman Valley loop. They begin at 30th and Pittsburg, winding their way south to 42nd, east to Crestline, south to 63rd and then 65th, south on Regal to the Palouse Highway, west on Baltimore Road to Hangman Valley Road, up Hatch Road and finish on High Drive at 29th. Today, many riders are wearing their Morning Ride jerseys, bright yellow and blue with a map of their Hangman course. The ride is about 23 miles. And the competition never ends for these cyclists who meet every weekday morning to ride.

I am riding on a tandem bike where trust in the captain, the front person, is essential. My captain is John Bozo.

“Half of the days we ride in the morning, we are racing for an hour,” Bozo said.

Bozo, 47, has been with the group for more than 10 years.

“The proof is truly in the pedals. The person earns respect very quickly based on performance, good and bad,” he said.

“You can lose respect very fast. If you are a foot from someone’s wheel doing 30 to 50 miles per hour, you’ve got to trust those people who are in front of you,” Bozo said. “We have had our share of crashes, irate motorists coming up Hatch and people yelling at us on High Drive.”

They say his nickname used to be “Bozoloni” but he has lost 25 pounds and is now called “Bozolini,” a little, bitty Bozo.

Other terms of endearment weave their way through the conversation. Their formal slogan for the ride is “We are not here to make friends. We are here to ride.” They had some other slogans, but we can’t print them here.

They tease each other about keeping up. Bozo says we can be fast all along the course except going up Hatch.

One of the founding fathers is Bill Bender, 50. “It has gone from being two or four people to 25 to 50 riders,” Bender said.

“The ride has taken on a life of its own and taken on various personality characteristics,” he said. “And it has expanded to other things.”

“It started out as a bike ride and now is has expanded to other dimensions in our lives,” Bender said. “We have become friends and do things together. Other bike events. And our families socialize.”

“It is like a big support group. Riding is a big focus in our lives,” he said. “The ride is not a competition officially.”

“Everybody trains up, everybody carefully looks at their bike, thinks about buying a new bike,” Bender said. “Even the most gifted guys would tell you the same thing: Everybody is trying harder, trying to raise the bar for everybody else.”

“Everybody thinks they are trying their hardest, and breaking their neck to keep up with everybody else,” he said. “And everybody is having that same experience.”

Including Jeff Underwood, 38. He has been riding with the group for nearly two years, trains indoors in the winter to come out strong in the spring.

He shows up today in a very pink jersey.

“Probably the first three weeks, I got dropped every morning,” Underwood said. “By the time they reached the bottom of Hatch, I was so far behind them. One of the happiest days of my morning rides was when we got to the base of Hatch, and I was still with the group.”

He doesn’t have to worry about being last; his fellow riders claim Underwood pushes the pace on many mornings. “There is motivation from the group in spring to come out in good shape,” he said.

“There are mornings when the last thing you want to do is get up and ride,” Underwood said. “But you see all the guys, you have a nice conversation and by the time you come home, you feel great.”

“You are ready for the day. It is one of the things that keep me coming back every morning.”

It is 5:45 a.m. and we are off. It is a friendly pace with talk about carbon wheels, new bikes and half-priced jerseys.

The pace is gentle until we hit Regal, and then Bozo has us flying. I concentrate on pedaling and wonder if I am slowing him down.

Conversation stops with only the whistle of wheels filling the air. Loud breathing begins as the group tackles the first hill. Conversation begins again as we near the summit. I am struggling to talk and pedal at the same time.

The front riders shout “car,” “car up” or “car back” to warn the group of vehicle dangers or “clear” when intersections are safe to ride through.

Sam Joseph, 52, has been with the group 12 years. What keeps him coming back? “Camaraderie and peer pressure,” he said. “You always know there will be someone there to ride.”

“And everybody is compatible personality and riding-wise. We won’t leave someone behind,” he said. “The other thing that keeps people coming back is the testosterone.”

And then there is Wacky Wednesday.

“I asked the group to give me one day where I could choose a different route,” Joseph said. “So I get to decide where we ride.”

And new this year, courtesy of Rob Benedetti, Easy Monday.

“We tend to ride hard on the weekend (in races and longer informal rides),” he said. “It was a nice idea to go easy on Monday, to make it enjoyable rather than a race, like today.”

Benedetti, 52, has been with the group 12 years. And when someone starts taking off to ride fast, the group yells “Piano, Piano” the Italian word for slowly or softly.

Benedetti likes riding with the group because it is the only time he can exercise. “If I don’t do it in the morning, I won’t get any exercise all day,” he said.

“And it is fun to get together with a bunch of guys. The camaraderie brings me out.”

They also have Tandem Tuesday.

Back on the road the other riders catch us going up the Palouse Highway. We summit and begin our descent down Baltimore Road. On several occasions, I close my eyes and pedal like mad. We hit 48 miles per hour; we have wings. Benedetti and Tidd pass us on the incline they call “Alp de Bozo.”

“You get ego points for winning that sprint,” Benedetti said.

“There are a lot of competitive spirits amongst the morning ride,” Jeff Underwood said.

“We are like a small peloton, nothing like the pros,” he said. “But when a guy takes off, the group reacts. You have to try to reel them in.”

Cory Yost is first up Hatch, “but it is not a competition” they assure me.

Bozo and I make it up Hatch. I thought the race was over.

But there was a second sprint spot. Bozo surges us forward on High Drive toward 29th, the phantom finish line. It is a tandem race, us against Benedetti and Tidd. We are all riding close together, just like the Tour de France.

We cross first. The race is over for today. Riders peel off toward home. They will return tomorrow morning.