Group Ride (What the F*ck is Going On!)

Today is Thursday September 25 2025 and last night i did the group ride.

It was very very hard.

This week i put some effort into showing up to this ride primed and ready to go and i think it worked because i felt good. Thank god i took that approach because a few guys decided to punch it from the very beginning and it was seemingly ludicrous speed for the entire time i managed to stay connected, which wasn't long. i got dropped earlier than normal but given how fast it was i think i did pretty good.

BK was there and about 10 minutes into the sprint fest he rolled by and said "What the f*ck is going on!". 

My sentiments exactly. i could see that a couple guys were constantly rolling to the front and ramping it up. Whenever the pace slowed they took over and started pushing hard again.. 

Honestly, it was a blast. Going fast (for a bit) while also being composed enough (for a bit) to see what the bunch was doing instead of just focusing on the wheel in front of me was exhilarating. Then the effort caught up to me and i found myself just focusing on the wheel in front of me.

Did i mention that i got dropped twice?

That's why there are two middle finger photos below. Each one was taken shortly after getting dropped. Although i think the ride time and average speed showing on the Garmin includes the 15 minute pedal from my house to the start, meaning the first time i got dropped was after about 13 minutes, ouch!  But i really do think that i found something to feel good about in those 13 minutes.

After getting dropped the second time i kept pushing. i was riding using the force (no heart rate monitor and my only power meter is the indoor trainer) and i think i did a good job of riding within myself. Plus i didn't have a negative attitude after getting dropped.  i chased for maybe 10 minutes and then saw BK headed back home so i turned around and we rode back together at a decent speed.

It was a great ride.

Did i mention that earlier in the day i dropped my Mountain Bike off at One Star Bicycles for a pre Little Sugar tune up? 18 days until that race.

Did i mention that last nights weather was absolutely perfect? Around 68 degrees when we finished.

Did i mention that the sun is setting much earlier but we finished the ride with the last bits of light in the sky? Sunset was around 7:13 but then you get that 30-45 minutes of lovely fading light.

Every once in a while everything clicks into place and with a superior attitude you can realize that despite getting dropped from the group ride after 13 minutes it was still an amazing night.

36 Miles

Today is Sunday September 21 2025 and this morning i did 36 miles of pavement on my single speed bicycle.

It was bad a**.

I'm trying to cram in two big weeks of riding prior to Little Sugar. Two big weeks for me would total about 20 hours or riding and with yesterdays big day (50 miles) and todays solid day (36 miles on the single speed) i'm well on my way. 

Again, i should be riding single track to prepare for the mountain bike race but hey, riding a single speed around a hilly area seems like adequate practice. 

Besides... i make the rules around here.

Also i stopped for a coffee at the same spot as yesterday, which was lovely.

Also for the first time in a long while i did the Lord of the Rings steps from Southwest Boulevard up to mid town. i counted something like 161 steps, and not many spiderwebs. 

Bicycles!

50 Miles

Today is Saturday September 20 2025 and this morning i rode my Mountain Bike 50 miles on pavement.

It was pretty great.

I should be riding single track to prepare for the upcoming Little Sugar Mountain bike race but as i mentioned previously i'm having trouble wrapping my head around early morning rides on trails filled with spider webs. So tbd if i ever get that figured out.

But at least today i did managed to do a lot of climbing. 2,975 feet. The 50k Little Sugar race apparently has 2,830 feet of climbing so i did just a bit more that that, and felt okay doing it so that's encouraging. 

i started todays ride with a long casual warm up to Downtown and then made my way west to the Argentine Neighborhood, which has lots of steep hills. I almost had to walk the climb up Valley Street. That one is brutal. 

Have i mentioned that i'm signed up for the 100k race at Little Sugar but i intend to downgrade to the 50k. i've done this before and it wasn't an issue so fingers crossed for the same deal this year. 

Group Ride

Today is Thursday September 18 2025 and yesterday i did the group bike ride.

It was hard.

Honestly i think the pace was average as far as that ride goes but i was struggling and got dropped at the usual spot. That's a bummer but i still got in a solid 45 minute workout. 

i've skipped this ride a bunch lately and it shows. in general i don't do enough high intensity riding to reasonable expect to be able to keep up on a ride like that so if i'm serious about getting fast on a bicycle then i need to up my training quality and consistency. i keep saying i'm serious about getting fast but for me that means riding before work 3-4 days a week and i have a hard time waking up for that. So tbd on all that.

This group ride has exposed my lack of appropriate training but its also exposed how old my road bike is. Which means it might be time for a new one. Christmas is coming up. A shiny new bike always increases the motivation.

It's getting darker earlier. Leaves are falling. Yesterday was hot but Fall is right around the corner. There are local cyclo cross races, two this weekend, but i dont see that happening for me. About a week ago i was riding and did a quick dismount into some stairs down on the Plaza and i almost fell over. My knees were not ready for that.

But never say never. I do love cyclocross and i own a cyclocross bike.

Meanwhile... the Little Sugar Mountain bike race is in 24 days!

 

Saturday and Sunday Rides

Today is Monday September 15 2025 and i rode my bike twice over the weekend.

It was pretty sweet.

After the Pony Express gravel race a week ago Saturday i only rode or exercised once before this weekend. Not ideal but i was tired. We also went to a concert on Wednesday night which included 3 drinks, i was probably more tired from that effort than the race effort. Being 45 years old is no joke!

Anyway...  on Saturday i rode my mountain bike 46.4 miles, mostly on pavement, and on Sunday i dusted of my single speed commuter bike and rode it 25.7 miles on pavement.

I should be riding single-track to prepare for the Little Sugar Mountain Bike race but im worried there will be spider webs everywhere. i need to get that figured out. It was also hot this weekend and hot spider web riding is a hard pass for me. i did ride a little singletrack down around Cliff Drive but only about 20 minutes worth. Besides that i stopped for a coffee, then stopped for a muffin (i was bonking hard) and the rode home.

The single speed commuter bike (which is my oldest (& favorite?) bike) has been hanging in the basement for about nine months so Saturday night i pulled it down and pumped up the tires. Come Sunday morning the tires were still holding air so i hit the road around 7am for a pretty sweet 25 mile ride. i only stopped once to fill up my bottle at the crown center water fountain, its my favorite one. 

i've definitely leveled up in fitness because a few months ago the though of taking the single speed for a 2 hr ride thru not flat Kansas City was almost laughable. But yesterday i could keep pushing despite the effort.

Fitness!

Maybe i should have a goal for my performance at the Little Sugar Mountain Bike race. This will be my third year participating.

• 2023 = 3:43 (came in with low fitness and considered skipping the race)
• 2024 = 3.13 (much better fitness than last year)
• 2025 = ? (safe to say my fitness is much better than last year)

My improvement from 2023 to 2024 was exactly 30 minutes, can i make the same improvement this year? Seems unrealistic... but i make the rules here so 2 hours and 43 minutes is the goal!

Saturdays Ride...

Sundays Ride...

Race Day! Pony Express Gravel Dash

Today is Sunday September 7 2025 and yesterday i raced the Pony Express Gravel Dash in Marysville, KS.

It was pretty great.

I raced the 65 mile course and raced significantly better than i did at Gravel Worlds two weeks ago.

(Yesterday i finished 32nd out of 140!)

The race was 2.5 hours away so the night before i drove thru an amazing sunset and stayed in a hotel in Hiawatha, KS. That was still an hour away so after staying up too late watching Jaws in the Best Western Hiawatha i was up at 5 and out the door at 5:30 for the 7:30 race start.

I only had about 20 minutes to warm up but that was fine since my plan was to start conservative and ramp it up from there. Spoiler alert, my plan worked. 

Temps were very chilly and i was wearing my winter down jacket, warm gloves, and a thick stocking cap while warming up. For the race i went with a thin long sleeve base layer, warm socks, no gloves. My hands were kind of numb for the first two hours. Add to that my glasses fogging up in the first 30 minutes and it made for some challenging conditions. i was having to pull the glasses down to the tip of my nose so i could look over the top of them. Keep in mind they are prescription glasses and the prescription is pretty thick so this method was a little like using the force. 

But it all worked out.

So i started conservative but i still pushed myself a bit. The course was awesome and conducive to going fast. It was the opposite of Gravel Worlds which was all 90 degree turns. Here the road was always ducking diving and sweeping, and they threw in a lot of fun and fast dirt road sections. plus the scenery was awesome. i think we were in the flint hills. 

Early on after a very steep and grassy climb i hopped back on my bike cyclocross style and the seat post slipped down about 2 inches. it seemingly took me forever to get it back where i wanted it. Besides that i stopped once to pee but i those were my only two stops. i skipped all the aid stations. 

i made several friends out on course. Matt, Florida Man (Brandon), the college kid doing his first gravel race ever who was a runner for KU but couldn't run at the moment because he was recovering from a broken leg (he was loving his first ever gravel race), the two guys with aero bars who i latched onto for maybe miles 20-30. They were chatting away and seemingly could have held their pace all day. Cool guys.

i observed that my handling, cornering, and pack riding skills seem to be a bit advanced compared to my fitness level because for the most part i was blowing the doors off the people around me in these moments. That made me feel good.

It became apparent pretty quickly that i was going a lot faster than at Gravel Worlds (significantly less climbing at Pony Express) so with about an hour left to race i really pushed it. i was still strong enough to be in control of how i wanted to ride. meaning i could attack a hill to keep momentum and then i could recover fast enough to keep pushing on the way down. it was a blast. 

i was solo for this last hour but every time i looked back Matt my race buddy was slowly closing the gap, then with about 20 minutes to go a guy passed me out of nowhere, i kept him close and caught him with about a mile to go, then about 400 meters to go we started to sprint for the line only to realize we had a stop sign and the other cars didn't, luckily we were both paying attention and slammed the breaks otherwise we would have been hit by a car (very sketchy finish, maybe that's common in gravel but it had me scratching my head), meanwhile Matt the riding buddy was still closing the gap while me and the other dude started our sprint again, he beat me but i had to stay on the gas to stay ahead of Matt.

So it was a very exciting finish to a very fun race.

Afterwards i cooled down while checking out the fun little Marysville, KS downtown and then drove home with the windows down and the music blasting.

i'm thrilled that my fitness seems to be improving and totally pumped for the next few months of riding my bicycle.

it's going to be bad ass.