Weekend Rides

Today is Monday September 29 2025 and i rode my Mountain Bike on Saturday and Sunday.

Both days were a slog.

On Saturday i got out the door around 6:45 am and pedaled from my house to the Swope single-track. I felt tired and slow the whole time and ended up being gone for 3 hours and 12 minutes but about 20 of those minutes were spent getting coffee.

Holy crow i forgot how hard the Swope single track is. i probably did 1 hour and 20 minutes out there and it kicked my butt. i do believe that a few times in my life i cleanly rode the 8 pin alley section but this time i basically walked the whole thing. i walked a lot of sections. Which isn't surprising but took a second to accept. On the plus side spiders and spider webs were not a big issue.

i'm hoping to take a day off this week and head to Swope again for a 2-3 hour session. That would be my last big ride before Little Sugar.

Did i mention i saw tons of deer out there and one big male standing right in the middle of the path stared me down, refused to budge, and really scared the crap out of me. Seriously, it felt like he was ready to charge. i turned around and looked over my shoulder as i got the hell out of there.

Then on Sunday we did a family bike ride to Loose Park and back. 

On rides like that i pull the little man on a tag along and boy howdy i forgot how hard that is. He's 70 pounds and i'm 45 years old and Kansas City is not flat. 

i pushed hard so it was about 30 minutes of pedaling each way, on the way back i was seriously crashing. X had the backpack with snacks and i was reaching over and yanking out anything i could find just to make it home.

But still it was an absolutely amazing day out. The little man is 10 and he's developing his own interests and bicycles are not one of them so family bike rides are becoming rare. i sweetened the deal by mentioning we could blast K-Pop Demon Hunters songs from the blue tooth speaker during the ride and that's what we did!

"We're goin' up, up, up, its our moment. You know together we're glowing. Gonna be gonna be golden!"

Another sweetener was the promise of a cake pop on the way home, which meant i got a coffee. That's two coffee bike rides in a row!

Coffee!

Bike rides!

Did i mention that since the Chiefs had a game later in the day Loose park was absolutely dead. It was wild. And awesome. So peaceful. What a great spot.

SATURDAY...

SUNDAY...

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...