Weekend Bike Rides... X in the ER version

Today is Monday August 17 2026 and i rode my bike outdoors on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday i did 56 miles on the road bike and on Sunday i did maybe 15 miles on the mountain bike but that ride changed drastically when X called mid ride to say she had crashed her bike and needed immediate help. She was on a separate ride, riding solo, and she slid out on some wet leaves on the Indian Creek paved trail at Corporate Woods. Thankfully other trail users showed up quickly to help her out. 

911 was called and she took an ambulance to the hospital and i met her there.

She had a dislocated elbow which was causing some pretty intense pain, plus a fracture in that elbow, a small puncture wound in her wrist that needed two stitches, and then just general bruises and scrapes. i think the pain from the elbow sent her into shock because it sounds like she almost passed out shortly after crashing.

She was very banged up (a hard bicycle crash in your mid 40's is no joke!) but it appears serious injury was avoided.

i feel terrible that she had to go thru that alone. She was panicking when she initially called. Her Apple watch sent out a 'hard fall sos' emergency notification to 5 people and that was a huge help. 

Once she got to the ER and they got the elbow back in place (they put her under for that) things got a lot better but she still spent 5 hours there while they checked everything over. 

Hopefully today she can see a specialist for the elbow fracture and we'll understand the full extent of the damage.

Despite appearing to avoid serious injury it's still a real bummer for her because she's in great shape right now and was planning to do another roller skating marathon in Duluth Minnesota in a month... i assume there's no way in hell that's happening anymore.

But such is life. And until she gets better the not so little man and i are ready to wait on her hand and foot.

In the meantime... watch those slippery corners!

Saturday Ride...

Saturday Night Bonus picture... X setting the skip-it record at 400 at a Jock Jam's themed birthday party. A fitness high water mark if ever there was one!

Sunday Ride and ER Trip....

Ride like a Condor

Today is Friday August 14 2026 and yesterday evening i rode my single speed bike thru the mean streets of Kansas City.

It was scorching hot (heat index around 105 when the ride started) and pretty awesome (superior attitude and superior state of mind for the win!)

i picked the bike up from the shop earlier in the day which probably explains my eagerness to get out and ride despite the heat and humidity being so miserable.

By 6:40 i was out the door around 8:10 i returned home. That was enough time to do the water fountain loop which is what i'm now calling my route down to the crown center water fountain and back. The way back was pretty brutal because i was dying. But i never broke. Accelerations from a dead stop were painfully slow but like a Toyota 4 Runner the acceleration never stopped accelerating.

Plus i had the soothing sounds of Hermanos Gutierrez new song Los Ojos del Condor keeping me company on the blue tooth speaker. Per google that translates to 'The Eyes of the Condor'.

That was me, a Condor soaring (ok slogging) high above (ok, down in the streets of) Kansas City.

It was glorious in an odd way.

Johnnys Ride... super hot

Today is Thursday August 13 2026 and last night i did the Johnnys ride. 

It was very hot.

I got dropped about 15 miles in and pushed hard the rest of the way despite my energy levels dropping to almost zero. i think the extreme heat made everything feel different. it muted all my sensations.

i used an ice sock on my neck / upper back. 

i'm ready for fall weather.

i wish i had been keeping track of my times for all these Johnnys rides. Below is a pick of my finishing time of 1:27. i'll try to remember to note that for all future editions because i want some comparisons.

Weekend Bike Rides...

Today is Monday August 10 2026 and i rode my bike outdoors on Saturday and Sunday morning.

The Saturday ride was great.  

The Sunday ride was a slog. 

Saturday i did the Rocky route and i did it fast because i had a haircut at 10am. i felt good but not good enough to not be 10 minutes late for the haircut, sorry Joey.

Sunday i felt like absolute sh*t because the day before i tried to do way to much, including the bike ride, yard work, drinking, and lack of sleep. i wanted to do 4 hours on Sunday but all i could manage was a short ride with X on the Old Leawood North loop. 

So Sunday was a wash but it was a good reminder of my limitations.

i'll try to keep my head on strait at least thru Little Sugar.

We all go a little mad sometimes.

Evening Ride... oh yeah!

Today is Friday August 7 2026 and yesterday evening i did a lovely ride.

i've been doing a newish route which takes me North to 43rd st and then East thru the Plaza and then home. Last night i tacked on an extra 30 minutes by going all the way to Southwest Boulevard and then over to Crown Center (to refill my bottle at the best water fountain in KC) and then home via the Kessel Run (Main St between 31st and Emanuel Cleaver II Blvd).

By the end of the ride i was able to push pretty hard. i dialed it back for fear of digging a big hole because i'm expecting a big weekend of riding and want to have the energy necessary.

Riding in the urban core is the best, i figure its poor 'training' for gravel races and long mountain bike races (what with all the stopping due to stop signs and stop lights) but i cant not do it. Almost all other riding seems boring in comparison.

Perhaps if i lived in an area with more natural beauty i'd find it easier to go ride in a rural area.

And maybe i just haven't found the right routes around here. 

I'll try to keep an open mind.

My mountain bike is in the shop and when i get it back, and if i can find ride windows mostly devoid of spiders, then that will be a nice compliment to all my urban riding.

The not so little man starts 6th grade next week so i'm about to find out how serious i am about leveling up my fitness because it's much easier to find time to exercise during the summer than the school year. 

i stopped into One Star Bicycles today during lunch to drop of my single speed. So in the near future i'll have a functioning mountain bike, single speed bike, cyclocross (gravel) bike, and road bike.

Boy howdy i'm going to have some bicycle options!

Night Ride... damp version

Today is Thursday August 8 2026 and last night i did a short night ride.

i couldn't do the Wednesday Johnnys ride but i found a short ride window around 8:30 and i took it.

The ride started on the single speed, which i was thrilled about, but all my talk about how its indestructible and how it always answers the call must have jinxed it because now it has some issues. i guess even the ironest of iron men need a tune up every now and again.

So after 2 minutes of pedaling that bike i turned around and switched to the road bike.

It had rained an hour prior and the dew points were very high so everything was very damp. Towards the end it started to sprinkle again and that was good motivation to hurry home because i had zero desire to be riding my bike at night in the rain. My legs obliged and i went hard all the way home.

i need to get that single speed fixed asap, everytime i get on it i'm shocked at how perfect the bike fit is.

It just feels so good.

  

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!