The Adventures of Campy Girlymann Continue

The next morning, bright and early, Campy was up and waiting at the fountain for the racers to arrive. They came in twos and threes until a small peloton had formed. Campy received a few smiles, some giggled at his touring clothes and bike. All of the racers wore and rode the latest and the greatest in the cycling industry. But Campy just smiled back and waited.

When the time arrived, the peloton took off toward the mountains. The pace was easy, and Campy stayed in the back,  no one bothered him and, in fact, they ignored him as the road narrowed and the climbing began. The pace was fast and in time, the peloton began to lengthen into a long snake type formation. Campy, still in back, was close to the last riders. He watched though, seeing how far ahead the lead riders were and when gaps began to develop, Campy eased around the slower riders.  Some of the riders he passed, were visibly shaken, and frustrated, they pushed themselves to stay with Campy until they could no longer keep on his wheel and fell off.

As they neared the summit of the climb, the leader looked backed to see where the others were and seemed surprised to see Campy in back of his pod of riders. The lead group went over the summit and raced down the other side of the mountain with Campy hanging on to his position in the back. When the lead rider again turned to see who was left, there was the new rider, still with them.

Gaston turned to the rider next to him and spoke, his buddy turned to see who he was talking about and turned back to Gaston with a smile, they seem to be agreeing on something is what Campy thought. Gaston then took the pod of riders to a road on the left, it was very old and in bad shape. Not all of the riders went with them but Campy did and stayed right in the back. The road went from rutted dirt, to cobblestone, in some very small villages, to packed earth in others. The bikes were dirty, streams had to be crossed and no matter how bad or how rough it became, Campy was still there. At last Gaston took another road that led quicly back to the main highway and back toward town. He pulled up next to Campy and smiled. "I give you credit, Aussie, you're tough, " he said.

Campy smiled and extended his hand but Gaston didn't shake it, instead he rode back up to the front of his group. It didn't bother Campy because right then, he knew he won.