No great pictures of Kevin climbing up Kings on Tuesday, on his new Trek Emonda, because of course he was riding way up ahead of me! Actually that’s not entirely true. The photo above isn’t too bad.

Just a few of us; Kevin (pilot), Kevin (young guy with new bike), JR, Marcus and me. Younger Kevin’s been riding his Trek Boone ‘Cross bike since late June, after the motorist had knocked him off the road and trashed his Trek Madone. The Boone’s a pretty darned nice bike, but with its beefier frame and disc brakes, you’re talking maybe 5 pounds heavier than the ultra-light Emonda he showed up with. As a result, even though he hadn’t been riding for over a week (he and his sister had taken a trip to Disney World), he has ready to go.

At first, Kevin rode up off the front a bit, and then I got on his wheel. I held on up past the park entrance a bit before letting go, and shortly after that, Marcus came riding on past and rocketed up to him. At the park entrance, I circled around a bit and waited up for the other Kevin (pilot guy), who was hurting pretty badly after a crash a couple days prior. According to Kevin, he and Marcus made it to the top together, somewhere around 27 minutes. That would be a full minute faster than I can pull off right now. Sigh.

Overall, a super-nice ride because the pace was fairly moderate, the weather perfect for climbing, and, well, we do live in one of the greatest spots on the planet for riding a bike. And yes, if you drop 5 pounds weight off a bike, it does make a difference.