How to Build a Hero

In Batavia we saw a statue that told me why we were on the loop with a young Stephen E on his inaugural Hero ride. Todd and I had even asked ourselves earlier in the morning, "Can you create a Hero from scratch?" The answer in Batavia was that it was going to take Hammer blow after Hammer Blow, Rain storm after Rain storm, and a case of Assos Cream.

The wind mill in Batavia was where we first spotted weakness, so Todd rode up along side Stephen and told him some fable about how the windmill sheltered some cold heroes on a stormy day and they ate freshly milled wheat and sang hymns. Stephen let the narrative of Todd's story distract him from the pain. The storm had passed.


In this photo Todd adjusts his Gilet. It was a stormy cold day and perfect for training young Heroes.

Now this photo here is the only dark moment of our tutorial. Lets just say that this photo either represents us overtaking a crawler or possibly in fact a crawler passing us. Lets just say this urban legend of what can happen on the LOOP will remain just that.

A young Hero pauses on a curb. Too tired to lick the salt from his parched lips. He thinks about the day. He thinks about the brotherhood he just shared. He even mentions to me as if it were a dream about getting an espresso along the way. Young Hero I say, you did have an espresso. Sammy made it for you. He is kind of like a godfather to the Heroes. Welcome home. Welcome home, Stephen Hero.