The Chainring and The Cog

Has it been five years? Have those who had cared so much about him, forgotten about him? Was it as fleeting as he knew it would be?Calvin is a simple man living a simple life in a small beach town surrounded by mountains. The coastal roads and mountain passes provide him with plenty of variety to ride when he feels like it, how far he feels like it, and how hard he feels like. Yet he always believed that one day a customer would walk in his shop while on vacation, take a double glance and ask the question "Are you...?" But life is not played out like a sitcom, no, a customer does not walk into the store and say, "Are you...?" on the contrary, a well-connected acquaintance from the past needing the unanswered questions answered walks right by you at an out of the way corner of the world. And soon he would make his way to Oakcrest, then to the Chainring and he would not say, "Are you...?" he would say, "Hello Calvin, long time."The past five years, his rides would always harken him back to the peloton. 180 other riders, all traveling 27 miles an hour and packed so tightly he could touch those next to him without needing to extend his arm at all. With movements much like a flock of birds, they turned and undulated following the road. Spectators lined the roads, cheering, waving flags, yelling both encouragement and obscenities. He could see the colors, hear the sounds, and smell the smells, his senses remembering it all. As much as he could deny it, he missed it; the competition, the energy, the excitement and the bus.