Today is Monday June 1 2026 and i rode my bicycle outdoors last Saturday and Sunday.
It was a rainy weekend - it was a single speed weekend - it was a pretty fu*cking great weekend.
Saturday - Left the house around10:15am for 2 hours, including a coffee stop.
Sunday - Left the house around 9:45am for about 2 hours and 45 minutes, including a coffee stop.
All told it was 62 miles of single speed riding. That bike deserves a cake. Thru thick and thin its always been there for me. It doesn't ask for much and it never complains. My other bikes breakdown, require attention, are sidelined for months... not the single speed.
At the drop of a hat that bike is ready to rock and roll.
What a machine.
Pre ride on Saturday i watched live coverage of the Unbound Gravel race and found it extremely entertaining. It's amazing we can watch good coverage of an event like that from the comfort of our couch. What a world. Then i threw a rear fender on the bike, donned my rain jacket, put a cycling cap on beneath my helmet, and headed out. After maybe 30 minutes the rain died down, the jacket came off, the pace ramped up.
(Important point, it was warm. If this had been a cold rain i would have hid inside under a blanket.)
At the coffee shop i checked back in with the race and then headed home. Once home i checked in with the race again and upon seeing that the fine folks racing in and around Emporia, KS were on hour 7 of about 10 i no longer felt like such a bad a*s for riding my single speed for 2 hours in a light drizzle.
The ride window on Sunday was an early one so i was ready by 7am but Mother Nature had other plans. She put her foot down in the form of heavy storms. For the next two hours i basically sat in a comfy chair in my garage drinking coffee and becoming an expert weather man.
Then the rain cleared and i headed out, with a rear fender attached but no jacket and no hat.
36 miles and one coffee stop later i returned home, fully cooked.
i kind of think i was flying. Steep hills were ridden. Long out of the saddle accelerations were plentiful. Seated climbs were confidently conquered.
Fitness is coming. Leg strength is good. Lung strength needs some work.
The Little Sugar mountain bike race is a just over 4 months away and that's plenty of time to whip the lungs into shape... but that doesn't mean i'm going to actually do that.
i make the rules around here and i'll do what i want.
Because for me... the action is the juice.
Saturday Ride...
