Race Report... Touch Both Lines Gravel Grinder

Today is Monday August 3 2026 and yesterday, for the first time since last November, i did a bike race.

It was the 50 mile Touch Both Lines Gravel Grinder in Osceola, MO.

It was pretty good.

On Wednesday i took in my cyclo cross bike for a tune up because it's been hibernating all year. On Thursday i registered for the race. On Friday i picked up my cyclo cross bike from the shop and rode it around for about 45 minutes to get as comfortable as possible. On Saturday (race day) i was up at 4:45am and on the road around 5:50.

The weather was perfect (humidity and temps dropped big time overnight, it was almost chilly on the start line) and everything pre race went smoothly except i had no time to warm up. i wasn't stressed about that, or this race in general, but i think a proper warmup would have made a big difference.

A total of 34 people did the 50 mile course and i finished 17th. 

Exactly in the middle!

i lost contact with the front group after about 5 minutes on what turned out to be a harder climb than i thought. There was a brief reconnection when the leaders had to stop for traffic and i got real excited about getting a mulligan... but after another minute or two i lost contact again and counted about 12 people riding away. 

Throughout the race... i hooked up with a nice young kid for maybe 15 minutes and then he rode away. Two guys closer to my age caught me and i hung onto them for a few minutes. A guy with time trial bars caught me and i hung onto him for maybe a minute. i passed one person with about 10 miles to go. 

i rode solo for probably 90% of the race and honestly i had a great time.

The course was fun, the weather was perfect, and i had my blue tooth speaker... i was thrilled to be alive.

I'll mention the weather one more time because it was kind of magical. It was overcast all race but not in a dreary way. It was windy all race but not in a bad way. It sprinkled several times but never enough to be a bother. i was bad a*s.

Anyway... The bike held up well (Thanks One Star Bicycles), the body held up well, the food and water held up well.

So all things considered i'm happy with my performance. On miles 10-35 i felt like i was getting stronger every second and while the last 15 miles were a mixed bag i finished pretty strong.

Like i said recently, i think i'm in a good position to make a significant jump in fitness and this ride backed that up.

Looking ahead i see one or two more gravel races plus a mountain bike race i can hopefully do before Little Sugar... 

Bicycles!

Johnnys Ride... tentative version

Today is Thursday July 30 2026 and yesterday evening i did the Johnny's group ride.

It was okay.

The cold i mentioned last post is still hanging around, in the form of a hacking cough. It's been fairly disruptive to daily life but not enough to prevent me from getting my cycling costume on and participating in the group ride.

That might have been a bad idea... but i make the rules around here.

Prior to the group ride i told myself that once it started to get too hard i would sit up immediately... and i followed thru on that. i made it 45 minutes before pulling the plug, turning around, and riding home slowly. Up to that point the pace was relatively slow but i was still having to work pretty hard to keep up. 

hopefully i can string together some solid pedaling and eating and resting and whatnot over the next two months because i think i've done the work up to this point to put myself in a position to really level up my fitness. 

Focused and thought out training is not a strength for me but i'm going to attempt it and see what happens.

Time will tell.

Weekend Bike Rides... so sweaty

Today is Monday July 27 2026 and i rode my bicycle outdoors yesterday and the day before.

It was very sweaty.

Prior to the Saturday ride i took 4 days off.

The not so little man got back from camp on Tuesday evening (he did great on his first ever sleep away camp!) and i hit the bicycle pretty hard while he was gone and ended up with a minor cold. So after 4 days or no pedaling i headed out Saturday morning and was thrilled to find that my legs felt pretty great, so i rode about 50 miles. By the end the heat wave we're still experiencing had moved in and i was cooked.

Then Sunday morning after a good nights sleep i was up early again for what turned out to be 37 miles of pretty hard riding.

The dew points were off the scale and i was chewing salt stick tabs like there was no tomorrow. 

My cold is still lingering and maybe its stupid of me to be out pedaling and prolonging its life but i cant resist the call of the wild.

Although i'll probably resist it until this Wednesday Johnny's ride.

As the Little Sugar Mountain bike race grows closer (early October) i need to adjust my 'training'. Step one is to make the mountain bike rideable (it's got a broken spoke). Step 2 is to ride the mountain bike (although early morning single track rides in Kansas City in the Summer is my version of hell so it might be pavement rides for a while). Step 3 is to level up on my road bike rides. i need to be doing routes with less stopping.

104.81 miles in 3 days... kid-less rides 4, 5, & 6

Today is Monday July 20 2026 and i rode my bike outside this morning, and yesterday morning, and Saturday afternoon.

Every ride was very hot and very sweaty.

i'm tired.

104.81 miles in 3 days is pretty good for me. i wanted more on this final stretch before the not so little man returns from camp tomorrow but i'll take what i can get.

Saturdays ride put me in a hole because i delayed it until after the Tour de France stage finished which meant i was out around the heat of the day. By the time that ride finished i had completely come unglued. 

But... having a guilt free lazy Saturday morning filled with lots of good coffee in my cup and lots of good bike racing on the TV was pretty sweet.

Anyway...  the little man gets back tomorrow evening and i'm hoping for one final ride tomorrow morning because my current milage total for this kid-less stretch is 183.65 and i want that number to be greater than 200.

Bicycles!

Saturday...

Sunday...

Monday (today)...