Weekend Bike Rides... they'll never catch me, because i'm fu*king innocent.

Today is Monday May 18 2026 and i rode bike outside yesterday and the day before.

Saturday = Hard 2 hr road session

Sunday = Hard 3 hr mountain bike session.

Saturday i was up very early so that i could be back in time before X (my wife... her Roller Derby name was Xcelerator) had to leave at 8am. We hosted a sleepover for the not so little man and a few friends meaning an adult had to be there in the morning to ensure they had access to the powdered donuts, OJ, and video games. 

For the road ride i tried to do the Rocky route in under 2 hours and did not succeed. i only put my foot down about 4 times but that's not surprising given the 5:30am Saturday morning start time. The true test of a foot down champion is a rush hour ride thru the heart of the big city. 

Sunday i was up early to do a long mountain bike ride. X again had to leave early for work so this time we told the not so little man he might wake up alone. He's the type of guy who appreciates some quality alone time and was excited about this development but on this particular morning he woke up with a fever and called me alone, scared, and crying, wanting me to be home now. 

So after around 2 hours and 45 minutes of road and single track riding i pointed my bicycle towards home and hauled a*s. 

Prior to that minor emergency phone call i was reflecting on how magical the ride was. The weather was warm and humid but also very windy and cloudy, outside felt electric. The ride started with an hour of pavement followed by basically an hour forty five of singletrack. A few sprinkles had fallen overnight and the dirt was totally bad a*s. The spiders were out but only just.

Amazing ride.  

There really is a ton of sweet singletrack pretty close to my house.

2026 continues to be bountiful with its bike rides although i am having to get up pretty early to make it happen. 

On the run from Johnny Law... aint no trip to Cleveland.

Saturday Ride...

Sunday Ride...

Group Ride... working it, working it.

Today is Thursday May 14 2026 and yesterday i did the group ride.

Which i should probably start referring to as the Johnny's ride due to its proximity to Johnny's Tavern.

i almost hung on to the end of the Johnny's ride!

Full disclosure the group took it easy this week plus traffic and stop lights worked in my favor... which is nice.

i did get dropped with about 10 min to go but quickly caught back up with the help of said traffic lights, call it a soft drop, then i got (soft) dropped again in what i assume was the final ramp up for the sprint finish. 

It's amazing how much better one feels when the pace doesn't have you breathing out your eye balls. Last night i was in the zone, using the force, doing the bull dance. 

i'm not saying i rode flawlessly, there are still aspects of group riding i'm working on. Etiquette and what not. But last night i felt very comfortable.

Bicycles! 

Weekend Bike Rides... the eagles are coming!

Today is Monday May 11 2026 and i rode my bike outside yesterday and the day before. 

Saturday was a no stopping road ride.

Sunday was a mountain bike single track day, with a fair amount of stopping.

Saturday i decided to do my typical road loop but this time do it as fast as possible. Mid-route i remembered the old 'no foot down' game so i might bust that out for future rides. Feet did go down this time, and i did stop (red lights and what not) but i didn't stop for coffee or to pee or to adjust my saddle. With maybe 45 minutes to go i started running out of steam but now i have a posted time to key off of.

Maybe i'll try to better that time next week, under 2 hours is in play and that's a tempting carrot. The exact route isn't set in stone but the broad strokes are there, and anyway the whole point of games like this is to make riding (and riding fast) fun and i don't really care about anything other than finishing my ride in a way that has me excited for the next ride.

Sunday (mothers day, somehow the stars aligned and i was able to get in a 3 hour bike ride on mother's day, thanks honey! However full disclosure, i left before she woke up so she didn't have a say, sorry honey! But she also was cool with it) i road my mountain bike on some singletrack and was quickly reminded how hard that is. 

It's probably been 6 weeks since i last rode single track and i though the considerable fitness i've recently built on the road would carry over and i would slide right back into the singletrack and crush it all, and i did crush for a bit but then the culminative efforts unique to single track added up and i was cooked. But prior to getting cooked i was easily turning over a gear one harder than i typically ride and i was reasonably turning over a gear 2 harder than i typically ride. At one point i looked down and was shocked at the gear i was in.

i'm pretty bad a*s.

Also at one point i spooked a giant bird (Eagle i think, maybe vulture) hidden in some thick plants right next to the trail and it almost gave me a heart attack as it flew off very nosily.

It was a quality weekend for bike riding.

Now if i can just figure out how to eek out a bit more quality riding during the week i'll really be cooking with gas.

Saturday Ride...

Sunday Ride...

Bike Rides... we're ready to believe you.

Today is Friday May 8 2026 and i rode my bike outside yesterday and the day before.

On Wednesday i did the group ride.

On Thursday (yesterday) i took the day off to attend the Royals baseball game and got in a 2 hr ride beforehand.

The group ride was good, got dropped, kind of bonked, pushed as hard as i could all the way but didn't set a new fastest 40k time per my Garmin. i did see a vulture eating road kill during the ride so that was cool (no pics of that unfortunately).

Yesterday after getting the little man off to school i hopped back on the road bike and made my way down to the coffee shop and then back home for the quick turnaround to the Royals game. 

Life is moving pretty fast lately but i'm trying to find some time to stop and look around...

Weekend Bike Rides... prepare to make the jump to lightspeed

Today is Monday May 4th (May the forth be with you) 2026 and i rode my bike last Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday was cold and i felt pretty shi*ty and i did about 2:45 on the road bike.

Sunday was hot and i felt pretty great and i did about 2 hours on the road bike.

In Between (on Saturday night) we went camping, it was awesome.

Saturday was around 40 degrees upon bike ride departure so i threw on the jeans and other warm clothes and headed out. By the end of the ride i was hot. Not much else to tell about this one.

Sunday, after getting home around Noon from camping, i found a short ride window and headed out for what i figured would be a good day. It was. Being able to ride in shorts, short sleeves, and no gloves was a win right off the bat. i rode down to my new fav coffee spot (Cafe Ca Phe), had a quick espresso, then hammered home. 

i came home on main st, aka the Kessel Run , and absolutely crushed it. Every light was green. Every patch of debris was expertly avoided. Every narrow gap between the street car trench of death and the curb was threaded with upmost precision.

And to be clear, the Kessel Run heads South on Main Street from 31st to 49th st, at which point you disengage with a sketchy fast sweeping uphill over 90 degree right turn.

The road bike is feeling good, it wants to go fast and i'm getting better at allowing it to do so.

Saturday Ride...

Camping...

Sunday Ride...