Thursday Bike Ride

Today is Friday May 30 2025 and yesterday i did a bike ride.

I took yesterday and today off work so i plan to ride again today.

Yesterday i did 34.88 miles riding the mountain bike on pavement, today i'd like to do 40 but i probably wont have time for that. Then i can ride tomorrow and Sunday, if i could add 5 miles each day that would be 170 miles in 4 days. Thats a ton for me.

Anyway...

Yesterdays ride was good however i didn't really have lunch and the ride didn't start until about 2 so i had to stop at Cafe Ca Phe in Columbus park for a muffin and a bananna in order to keep going. 

In some of the pics you can see the posion ivy i recently got on my wrists, it sucks.

One memorable thing about this ride is that i've decided to come up with a specific song to start when i do the cliff drive stretch and to see if i can complete the section before the song ends. Yesterday i  choose "Goodby Stranger" by Supertramp. On spotify the song is 5:50 which was about 3 minutes and 48 seconds too short for my effort yesterday. Obviously it depends on what type of bike your riding, mountain bike = slow. Perhaps i need a specific song for each specific bike. But then again that's too complicated. 

So it's been decided. Goodbye Stranger by Supertramp is the song. If you're playing along at home i start at the eastern most part of Cliff Drive Scenic Byway and finish where the Cliff Drive Scenic Byway ends and turns into The Paseo.

Anyway...

Yesterday was a good ride and i hope today is the same.

Two Bike Rides on a Drizzly Weekend

Today is Tuesday May 27 2025 and over the long Memorial Day weekend i did two bike rides.

Both were on my mountain bike.

I felt pretty crappy for each ride but via my never ending search for a superior attitude and a superior state of mind i was able to stay positive and enjoy each ride.

"Superior attitude and superior state of mind" is taken from Team Segal which was (is?) a cycling team i remember seeing back in the day. They were named after Steven Segal... which is nice. Even though Steven Segal seems like a massive tool. 

In the 1990 movie classic Hard to Kill starring Steven Segal he says "Superior attitude and superior state of mind", which is a great life motto.

Anyway... 

The only real highlight from the two bike rides is that i pedaled to the top of the Cambridge St climb without putting a foot down. I had to use the granny gear on my mountain bike plus the paperboy method to get it done, but i got it done.

I guess in a weird way the weather was also a highlight. It was a nice mix of cool temps and light sprinkles that was actually pleasant to ride in. Riding in rain sucks but this was not that. Plus everything is extremely green right now and i think green is my favorite color, so i've got that going for me... which is nice.

Anyway...

Here are some pictures from each ride. 

Ride Number 1

Ride Number 2

Did a Mountain Bike Ride

Today is Monday May 19 2025 and yesterday i rode my mountain bike.

I've hardly touched a bicycle since last Saturdays Mule Skinner gravel race so it was high time to start pedaling again.

I left my house around 3:30 pm and pedaled east towards the Blue River Trails. Right into a head wind. But no mind, its downhill a lot of the way and despite having spent most of that morning and afternoon doing some intense yardwork i was psyched to be pedaling. So i pushed hard.

I've said it before but i love the trails down there. i jump in by the fire fighters memorial and usually head south before doubling back and coming home the exact same way.

The ride was awesome, despite the dew point ticking up, and i even saw two snakes, a deer, plus a vulture that literally flew out of the brush right in front of my face. Scared the bejesus out of me. 

i got home after about 2 hours of hard pedaling and immediately went into 'making dinner' mode followed by 'mowing the lawn' mode.

It was a full day, now im sore.

Its almost June. i'm signed up for Gravel Worlds in late August (75 miles) and then the Little Sugar mountain bike race in mid October (33 miles). There are a few others races in there i may try to do but that means i need to get working. And we're going to Colorado in late June and i'm hoping to ride from Frisco to Breckenridge and back on singletrack. i think its called the Peaks Trail. i've ridden it probably 4 times (always starting in Frisco) but never had time and or energy to make it all the way to Breckenridge. The internet says its 32 miles roundtrip. Thats a hike, and its at high elevation, but i really want to do the whole thing and its a good carrot to motivate me for these next 6 weeks.

The Colorado mountains during the summer are heaven.

Anyway...

Yesterday was a good bike ride. 

Race Day! Mule Skinner Gravel Classic Report

Today is Monday May 12, 2025 and last Saturday i did a race.

The Mule Skinner Gravel Classic in Lone Jack, MO. 33 miles.

This was the third time I've done this race and my first race since the Little Sugar mountain bike race last October.

Race report in a nutshell... i crushed it.

More specifically... i finished 22nd out of 57, felt better than i thought i would, had a blast.

For the past 3 weeks i've been sick or recovering from being sick so i approached this race very casually. That's not really a change to how i approach most races but this one was just a little extra.

Ride casual, as Han Solo would say.

With 3 minutes until the start i was still by my car working on tire pressure. But no worries, i rolled to the start line and had about 30 seconds to plop my butt on the top tube before they said go. i spent the first 20 miles in a decent group of about 5 guys. None of us really made a strong effort to work together but never the less it was nice to have company. Especially the big strong dude in the turtle on the road jersey that i tucked in behind for long stretches.

The weather was perfect and the ride was perfect. i pushed myself but always within reason. i wasn't wearing a heart monitor (rarely do) and the Tom Petty lyrics "you've got to listen to your heart - its gonna tell you what to do" became my mantra. But like i said, i rarely wear a heart rate monitor (and i don't have a power meter) so this was nothing new.

i use the force when riding... you cant trust computers.

Mainly i bring all that up because realizing during the ride that those Tom Petty lyrics are my perfect racing mantra really made me smile and remined me how bad ass i am and because you need to know how bad ass i am im telling you now.

Anyway...

Our small group or riders broke up with about 10 miles to go but i could always see at least one rider, which was good because despite being smart enough to download the route on my Garmin cycling computer i was unable to get it pulled up with my 30 seconds of free time on the start line. 

i made it to the top of the final steep steep climb without walking and without cramping (thank you salt stick chews) and was reminded of the time X and i did this race and she cramped going up the climb and she had a mini freak-out because apparently she's never cramped before and didn't immediately understand what was happening to her body. 

Anyway...

In the last mile or so the big strong turtle dude emerged and then passed me, which i thought was cosmically fitting considering i sat behind him so much early on.

Upon crossing the finish line i found the beer and then proceeded to find some old friends, a few of which i even remembered to take a pic with.

It was a great day!