last breath of air

this morning i rode my last "thick air" ride of the week. i left the house where we're staying and after a mile or so on sandy roads, i turned west onto u.s. highway 54 and headed towards greensburg. the wind was at my back, so i cruised along at a pretty good clip considering the wheels beneath me. fat tires just don't roll very well on pavement.

just before greensburg, i turned in at brenham and looped around the farmer's co-op there. brenham is nothing more than a grain elevator and a few out buildings. it is famous for nothing. i don't know if there ever was a town called brenham. it's been just the co-op in the 26 years i've known of its existence. the only interesting thing i know about it is that it was the place my in-laws hid their get away car when they got married. they thought they'd keep it away from the "decorators" if they parked it behind the elevator. seems there's more to that story, but the details are too fuzzy to report.

having looped around brenham, i continued on to greensburg and did the same there. the loop around this town that was just a few years ago half destroyed by a massive tornado. it was interesting to take in the sights of town. there are, of course, tons of new houses and businesses. riding around the outskirts of town, i covered an extra five miles or so.

back out on the highway, i headed to haviland. i turned in at the dirt road just to the west of town and snuck in the back way past the high school, around the north side of my alma mater, barclay college, and down south to the friends church. rather than take the extra half mile west to the highway, i turned east and then south to ryan k's coffee shop. i was hoping he or his wife would be there, but they weren't in. hannah had just left the shop. no hot refreshments! bummer. nothing left to do but ride back to the house. the last mile to mile and half was back on sand. since it hasn't rained much around here recently, the sand was loose and kind of tricky. i managed to stay upright until i pulled into the driveway. i clicked out of my right pedal and fell left. stupid! (28.45 miles @ 13.7mph)

irish intervals?

as if riding on heavy-set floyd wasn't enough of a workout, i decided today to ride intervals. i rode a set of five, a set of six, two sets of five, a set of six and one more set of five, finishing with a two-minute effort. while i was resting for two minutes between hard efforts, i made up a limerick to include with my report.

up and down main street i went.
at times my pace was hell-bent.
at others 'twas slower,
got passed by a mower,
but i had to rest or be spent.

next week i'm riding in the rockies!! (30.38 miles @ 13.3mph)

back of the paceline

a friend, scott g, on dailymile who rides with friends in rural indiana, posted this hilarious baiku...

back of the paceline-
riding there is where you get
the most dairy air.

think french and look at the picture and you'll get it.

close call

today's recovery ride was what you'd expect from a recovery ride: boring. my heart rate and respiration rate elevated only once and that wasn't from effort.

as i rode through the intersection of highway 150 and kansas 49, a pick up truck rolled right through the stop sign and nearly hit me. i mean he hardly slowed down. i yelled and waved my arms after i knew i had safely gotten out of his path and he didn't even see me then. i never saw his head turn to look west. it's a good thing no one was coming from that direction. i might have been blindsided.

this was cato's last ride for a week or so. he's going in for chain replacement surgery and while their in there, the "doctors" plan to replace his rear cassette and both front rings. i'm hoping for a speedy recovery so he and i can accelerate adequately to keep up with the tuesday night group soon. (22.07 miles @ 14.6mph)

the perfect storm

you'd think i'd get bored riding out and back every day, but i never do. it's not the route that makes the ride. it's the way the legs and lungs and heart feel. it's the little things the eyes and ears and nose sense. it's the way, every once in awhile, it all works well together to do something amazing.

today was one of those days when everything felt right. my legs warmed up quickly and i pushed them harder and harder. i mashed the big ring up and over the hills - mock, antichrist, nine-mile, mt. mayfield. i lost a little power on the last of those inclines, but recovered on the downward slope.

at about fifteen miles out, i flip 180 degrees and headed back the way i'd come. my average at that point was hovering around 18mph. i decided i had more in me, so i stepped up my pace. i flew up most of the hills - mt. mayfield, salt truck, nine-mile, black dog, cemetery, mock - near or above 20mph. i only dropped under 18mph on cemetery hill and that was only on the steepest part.

about five miles out, i saw where my average was and decided i could bring it up to 19mph. i dug a bit deeper and found power i didn't think i still had. as i passed over my "around the world" mark on the highway, about a mile out, i let it fly. i never dropped under 20mph until i braked to make the turn into my driveway.

i'm still looking for that 22mph average ride, but there's hope in my heart again. there will be another "perfect storm" day in the nearer than i imagine future and i'll do it. here's to big dreams! (30.32 miles @ 19.1mph)

60-second confession #9

i bag on eric all the time. he's the butt of all my jokes. my goal is to trash talk him as often as possible. still there's something about our relationship i need to get off my chest.