Good Friday bike ride

Today is Monday April 21 2025 and last Friday i rode my Cyclocross bike. I also rode yesterday but that was an indoor trainer ride and i didn't take any pictures so lets just ignore that one.

Fridays ride...

Work was closed for good Friday so as soon as the little man was out the door for school i threw together my supplies, downed some coffee, got my costume on, and started pedaling. 36 miles later i arrived back home.

The temp dropped throughout the ride and i was underdressed so i pedaled a little harder to stay warm. 

The ride was still great. It even included a brief interlude onto some cliff drive single track, followed by some forest stairs, followed by some pavement, followed by some more coffee (not pictured), followed by some trolly trail action, followed by more pavement.

i have a race coming up. The 33 mile distance at the Mule Skinner gravel race on May 10. That's a little less than 3 weeks away. Can i pack 4 months of weight lifting into 18 days? 

Either way i'm excited to race!

i'm like a Phoenix. Rising, from Arizona.

Today is Monday April 14 2025 and this past weekend i rode my bike on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday i did a windy cyclocross bike ride which i can barely remember.

On Sunday i did a windy road bike ride which i can mostly remember.

The Saturday ride was somewhat last minute so i rode for about 1.5 hours in the afternoon.

The Sunday ride was more planned and longer. The ride window pretty much closed at 9:30 am so i was on my bike around 6am and rode for almost 3 hours. It was pretty awesome but also pretty windy and pretty hard and my a*s and legs hurt pretty bad by the end. 

That road bike is harder to pedal than i thought. It doesn't have those easy to spin mountain bike gears, which i got use to. Although a lot of my struggles this weekend was due to the wind, and my weakling legs.

But i powered thru it.

I'm like a Phoenix. Rising, from Arizona.

*Editors note - if you look closely at the below garmin cycling computer pic you'll see the time of day reads 7:56 so you may be wondering how one can ride almost 3 hours when you start at 6 and finish at 7.56. The answer is that my garmin cycling computer time didn't update for daylight savings time. 

Saturday ride...

Sunday ride...

Windy Ride on a Thursday

Today is Friday April 11 2025 and yesterday i took the day off work and did a bike ride.

I did other stuff too but after doing that other stuff i found a 2.5 hour window so coffee was consumed the road bike primed and i got my costume on and headed out for 35 windy miles.

By the end of it my hamstrings seriously wanted to cramp up.

I really do need to get serious about hitting the weights. It's the missing link to taking my fitness up a notch or two.

During the ride i came up with a fun new measuring device for the type of ride it was... how many times did you have to unclip? Since i always seem to end up riding towards downtown i have to unclip a lot, but its something i'm going to think about. Or maybe it can be a game, ride in an urban area and try hard not to unclip.

Speaking of unclipping i got some new road pedals from One Star Bicycles and i love them. They are made by Time and they are extremely easy to clip into... which is nice.

So yesterdays ride was super windy and my legs we're pleading for mercy by the end so obviously i have a long way to go until i would consider myself fit but then again compared to years past i'm probably way ahead of schedule if i'm hoping to be fast in October... which is kind of the goal.

But the main goal is always to enjoy riding my bike, so far so good. 

Trainer Ride Tour of Flanders

Today is Monday April 7 2025 and yesterday i rode the indoor bicycle trainer.

It was the only ride i had time for, but it was better than nothing.

Plus the Tour of Flanders was on tv so i pedaled for one hour and forty five minutes while i watched Tadaj Pogacar inflict pain on everyone else.

The indoor bicycle trainer is kind of fun because it measures watts. Should i be paying attention to watts? On this particular ride i averaged something like 87 watts. I have done a bit of googling about how many watts i should average on a 3 hour mountain bike race, it sounds like i also need to figure out my FTP and what not.

But that's not my style, i'm not a numbers guy. I probably should be if i'm serious about my cycling goals this year but i guess my overriding goal is to have fun. So as long as im doing that i'm winning.

I will ride my bike.

Levee Ride

Today is Sunday March 30 2025 and yesterday i rode my Cyclo Cross Bike.

It's newly tuned up and good to go.

The big blisters on the back's of my heels were a concern because they've been bothering me since i got them, but some fancy bandaids did the trick and pedaling was pain free.

For the ride I headed north to the Kansas River and jumped on the levy after crossing the 12th st bridge.

This ride use to be sweet but recently they have been doing major construction to improve the levies and now the ride kind of sucks, at least temporarily. The construction isn't finished, although it seems apparent that when its all said and done the riding down there wont be as fun.

Nevertheless it was a great ride.

i was pretty pooped upon arriving home but it was nice to be greeted by the cat. He wanted me to let him in. i did.

Death March

Today is Wednesday March 26 2025 and yesterday i had a small free time window so i drove to a parking lot a bit closer to the trails and then rode my mountain bike to the trails and then walked jogged ran pedaled back because i got a flat tire.

Now i have the worlds worst blisters on each of my heels.

That trip back to the car was a death march, so much pain in my heels.

I was somewhat prepared for a flat tire, meaning i had a co2, goo stuff in my wheels, a plug kit thingy, and a pump... but either my technique wasn't good enough or the hole in my tire caused by a large piece of glass was too big to fix because after 10 minutes of fiddling with it it became clear that i was screwed.

So i accepted my fate and started the long journey back to the car.

About an hour and 10 minutes later i made it.

A few weeks ago i tried to ride 45 miles on my 45 birthday and despite coming up short i think that big ride was a good way to jump start the system. What i went thru yesterday could have a similar effect.

Shock the body into action!

Remember that Seinfeld episode where Jerry keeps commenting on how he always breaks even? At one point, to test his theory, he throws a $50 bill out the window and then towards the end of the episode he randomly finds a $50 bill. Proving his theory correct. Well yesterday i also stopped by the bike shop to pick up my tuned up cross bike... so even though one bike is now down and out with a flat tire (not a big deal but i'm bad at doing things, like fixing a flat) i have another bike primed and ready to go.

I always break even!