Jerry's Bait Shop Ride...

Today is Tuesday June 23 2026 and yesterday i did the Jerry's Bait Shop group ride.

It was fun, the weather was beautiful, i got dropped.

i lost contact with the group around the halfway point on a very fast right turn that goes strait into an uphill. i was slowing down for what i thought was a stop sign and by the time i realized what was happening it was too late. 

Up to that point i felt good but closing a gap to a fast moving group is currently a bridge to far for me. Perhaps that skill will be improved upon in the coming months. Or not.

i kept riding hard and i kept a positive attitude and soon hooked up with another dropped rider so we traded pulls to the finish.

The route was fun, right before getting dropped we went thru one of the old Tuesday night crit practice locations, out at K7 and K10. The last time i pedaled that road was probably during a practice crit in like 2013. X was there. Plus we went on Prairie Star Parkway which is where X went to train for her roller skating marathon. 

It was a hell of a day at sea.

My legs fell very tired today. 50 single speed miles on Sunday followed by a very fast hour and a half on Monday is no joke for this middle age man!

Weekend Bike Ride... Fathers Day edition

Today is Monday June 22 2026 and yesterday (Fathers Day) i rode my bike outside.

The ride was great and the weekend was great.

Friday = Watch the not so little man fence at the last day of a weeklong fencing camp. Watch USA World Cup victory on TV. Attend Weird Al Yankovic Concert with the not so little man.

Saturday = 3 hours at the pool then passing out on the couch watching a Marvel movie with the not so little man.

Sunday = up early for 50+ miles on the single speed bike.

It was raining early Sunday morning (seemingly constant rain lately) so i sat in the garage for a bit drinking coffee and enjoying the atmosphere. The dog joined me. Then i kitted up and headed out as the rain died down and after an hour it stopped and the rain jacked and cyclin cap came off for the rest of the ride. 

Have i mentioned how much i'm loving the single speed bike?

It's the best and it seems like the perfect bike for this moment in time.

During the ride i stopped twice for coffee, once to pee, and once to help the not so little man set up his own Disney+ profile via my cell phone. X was out of town all weekend, she did a marathon on roller skates Saturday Morning in Wisconsin (she won the quad division! "Quad" meaning she skated on traditional roller skates, not inlines. Once a Roller Derby gal always a Roller Derby gal), so the little man was home alone during my ride and he wanted to watch the Simpsons but he wanted his own profile first. 

Profile setup was a success (his avatar is H.E.R.B.I.E. from the Fantastic Four movie, btw) and i continued my ride while he crushed Simpson's episodes.

Prior to finishing i had another go at the Old Leawood North loop and this time i did it in 50:35... which is 3.5 minutes faster than last week... which is nice.

Did i mention that while pedaling around Cliff Drive i passed a guy riding a bicycle that had a hand crank in addition to the traditional foot pedals? He could do both at the same time. He wasn't easy to pass.

Next Sunday we leave for 5 nights in Frisco Colorado and ill be bringing my Mountain Bike.

X is in pretty amazing shape right now so she's also bringing her bike and i look forward to some fun rides together. The not so little man is still looking for confidence on his bike but i'll try to find a way to get him out and about, maybe the tag along again.

Bicycles!

Johnnys Ride

Today is Thursday June 18, 2026 and last night i did the Johnny's Ride.

i suffered big time but with the help of some timely stop signs and stop lights i was able to finish with the main group. 

There was a 2 minute stretch where i dug deeeeep. The outside world melted away and all i saw was the wheel in front of me. It was a true Zen moment. Later on in the ride, as the fatigue mounted, i debated sitting up but managed to stay positive and push thru that rough patch. 

Fitness is improving but by the end of the ride i was toast so when everyone ramped it up for the finishing sprint i hugged the gutter and cruised in with what i assume was an exhausted smile on my face. 

Great ride. 

Plus i felt noticeably more comfortable on the road bike and in the pack. 

Great night.

i have to skip this ride the next two weeks so perhaps i'll try the Jerrys Bait Shop ride this Monday. 

Bicycles!

Weekend Bike Rides... the Dude abides

Today is Monday June 15 2026 and i rode my bike outside last Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday i did 51.97 miles on the single speed.

On Sunday i did 28.03 miles on the mountain bike.

Saturday a.m. after taking the dog for a walk i was out the door on a very sweaty morning. The ride was pretty great. It included a coffee stop and concluded with a loop of the Old Leawood North route. Complete with downed tree limb portaging. For the Old Leawood North part i did the long route and put up a time of 54:05. That's the first time i've long route on my single speed so i don't have any times to compare it to.

Also... i feel pretty good about doing 50+ miles on the single speed. 

i'm not exactly a lightweight.

Post ride there was free ice cream at the neighborhood park so the not so little man and i took the dog and walked down to indulge.

Sunday i was up early again for what turned out to be a casual road ride on my mountain bike. After the single speed grind the day before it felt great to spin an easy gear. It stormed the night before (been doing that a lot lately... so much rain) and i passed lots of downed tree limbs. The storm also blew away the heat and humidity so the riding weather was primo.

i rode the Indian Creek paved trails down to Blue River Road... which was lovely.

Also... i'm starting to get the race itch. I need a league game, something with some stakes to mix it up.

If you will it, it is no dream. 

Saturday Ride...

Sunday Ride...

Johnny's Ride... with ice cream

Today is Thursday June 11 2026 and last night i did the Johnny's Ride.

It was really fun and really hard.

With the help of a nice guy on an electric bike i hung on for maybe 65% of the route and then a group of 3-4 of us rode most of the way to the finish. It was very hot and very windy and very humid and i wanted to puke. 

i'm still honing my group riding skills. Last night a guy gave me a polite tip about cornering, he was right. In preparing for a sweeping right turn i swung way out to the left and then dived back right as we turned so that i could take the turn faster, but what i neglected to consider is that the guy to my right and or behind me might do the same thing. So i cut into him / them a bit.

Sorry guys.

But i don't think it was a big deal. Nobody yelled or anything like that.

Upon finishing i got a text from X saying they were getting ice cream so i met up with them and then held on to her car for portions of the drive home, which is uphill, so that was nice because i was cooked. i think the not so little man got a kick out of the skitching.

Great day.

Weekend Bike Rides...

Today is Monday June 8 2026 and i rode my bike outdoors last Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday was a sweaty (dew point was 70) early morning Mountain Bike ride that did include single track.

Sunday was a relatively chill ride on mountain bikes thru the soggy streets of Kansas City, with X (my wife).

Saturday i was out the door around 8:25 and on the single track 27 minutes later. i took the 'A to B' trail north into Swope Park and kept the pace high. So high that multiple times i involuntarily cursed out loud, spontaneously verbalizing my shock at how depleting the efforts were. Mountain biking at Swope is no joke. But i was also moving at a good pace and riding sections that have given me trouble in the past... which is nice.

After maybe an hour of single track i abandoned ship and headed back to the pavement and took the long way home, which included stopping for a coffee.

Sunday it was raining pretty good so i waited that out and then X and i headed out together for about an hour and a half of casual(ish) riding to Westport and back. Including a coffee stop. 

X exercises a ton and is currently training to do a marathon on roller skates (this event takes place June 20 on Madeline Island in Lake Superior) but she doesn't ride much anymore. Despite that lack of bicycle time she can still punch it when she needs to. Multiple times i had to dig deeper than desiredto keep up with her.

Saturday Ride...

Sunday Ride...