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Letter from Iraq: Not your usual road hazards
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Editor's Note: We began corresponding with Major Jason A. Bryan during the Giro d'Italia. Bryan, a fan of VeloNews.com's Live Coverage, is currently deployed to Iraq.As you can see from Bryan's most recent e-mail, the major is a cyclist, a fan of the sport and a guy just trying to maintain his legs despite some rather unusual obstacles.
The perimeter is 18.5 km. My goal for June is 1000 km, which means many, many 18.5 km intervals. I’ve been riding a lap every morning and night to steadily eat away at the target. It is way too hot now to even think about riding during the daytime. I did two laps last Sunday afternoon and probably would have had a heat stroke if I tried for three.
Well, last night I did two laps because I was feeling pretty good. I completed the first in 36:50, a new best for me… the main reason for the improved time is the recent arrival of a new spoke wrench from Bike Nashbar. With the spoke wrench, I was able to straighten my wheel enough to keep the wobble within the brake pads. It’s amazing what reducing friction will do for speed, improving my previous best by over a minute.My poor mountain bike needs a new bottom bracket and a new headset after 5000 km of beating around in Iraq, so I was feeling pretty good with my pathetic numbers: average speed 29.4kph; top speed only 36 kph. Of course, that means that I never really sprinted, but kept a reasonable, even pace—I’m trying to build endurance and not just finish fast. The second lap last night was much slower, but I was enjoying the ride. Sunsets in the desert are awesome, especially in the summer when you’re on the road all alone. During the second lap, it got dark (as it does every day, all over the world). I took off my sunglasses and put them into my helmet and turned on my headlight, although it wasn’t dark enough to need it to see.
Next thing I know, I noticed something moving on the road ahead of me. A snake! The sight of it brought chills all over me because, as I’ve said before, there are no good snakes in Iraq. It was long - maybe 3 feet - and black, although I came up on it too quick to tell much about it. I swerved away and looked back to watch it slide off the road. I like watching snakes, but this really creeped me out. About a second later (literally), I focused back on the road in front of me and there was another one! Holy smokes! Two snakes within 30 meters of each other!I saw this one with enough time to react, so I pulled closer for a better look. He noticed me at about 3 feet and I think I scared him because he jumped into the defense, flaring his neck and letting out a hiss that put goose bumps on my goose bumps.I was in shock. Something inside me wanted to turn around and get a closer look at the freakin’ cobras I had just passed in the road, but I immediately thought about my sunglasses on my helmet— and considered the possibility of it spitting at me (I guess I’ve seen too many ridiculous snake shows). All the other voices in my head were screaming “RUN AWAY!”So, I ran.Within minutes, it was too dark to see much of anything outside my headlight, so I swerved around broken fan belts, oil spots, and anything else on the road. I checked my computer and saw that I finished with a new max speed of 45kph! I guess that occurred after having a cobra “bow up” at me. The countdown for redeployment is on. In the meantime, I’ll be here, pedaling around camp… with my boots on.
Major Jason A. Bryan
101st Sustainment Brigade S6
Iraq
