Thur. 7/29/10

What a beautiful night for a ride.

I decided to go long and did the 50 mile loop from my house to Dover, then Chatfield, Fugel's Mill, Simpson, and then home again.

I tried to push it a bit more, because I really need some miles before the Dawn to Dusk ride on August 14th.

Did I mention that it was a beautiful night for a ride???

Wed. 7/28/10

Kathy and I went up to Lakeville and helped out with the Farm Dog TT that Silver was hosting.

They had about 60 riders, which wasn't bad for the first TT at the new location.

I was a holder and Kathy helped at the finish line calling out numbers.

There were a couple of chains that popped off at the start and one guy started his ride with a flat rear wheel (only to cut it short because the bike was handling funny).

Silver did the route twice (number 1 and number 60). Great job, Steve.

And congrats to Silver Cycling for another outstanding and successful event.

What a great group of guys!!!

The riding looked fun, I should really give it a try sometime...

Sat. 7/24 and Sun.7/25

Jeff, Steve, and I got in 60 miles on Saturday.

After meeting near Century, we headed NE to Mazeppa, then we continued east to Plainview.

After a quick water stop we headed back to Elgin and then back to Rochester from there.

I got out for a quick 30 miles on Sunday afternoon. THe east winds made the trip out a bit hard, but the ride back was pleasant.

I should have gotten my lazy butt out of bed ealier and rode with the group as they planned a long route to the river and back. But I needed my beauty sleep...

7/21/10

Jeff and Steve made their way over to my side of town tonight and we decided to head NE.

As we neared cty 9, we spotted several other riders (I assume Recyclers out for their Wednesday evening ride) and we also noticed that the first part of cty 9 had been sprinkled with pea gravel.

We made our way east on cty 9 until the pea gravel stopped and then we continued east until cty 7.

From there we turned north and then west back toward Viola.

And from Viola, we stayed westward unitl we reached cty 11 where I turned south and Jeff and Steve headed back to Rochester.

I wanted to go longer, but it was a good idea not to as we quickly were running out of daylight and Jeff would have had to ride home in the dark.

I think he's afraid of the dark...

7/20/10

I got out for a nice spin tonight and decided to extend my route to Chatfield.

I pretty much followed the same route that Jeff, Steve, and I did on Saturday (without the climb to Century HS).

Unfortunately, the winds made the trip to Chatfield a breeze and the journey back much more painful and a lot more work.

But I made it back in spite of the wind and ended with just over 45 miles. Otherwise, pretty uneventful.

7/17/2010

Well after spending the last week in the car driving thru Canada and back, I needed to get out for some spinning.

Jeff called and mentioned that he and Steve were heading out, so I went along for the ride.

We meet up by Century HS and then headed south and east to Chatfield. From there we climbed back west toward Stewartville on cty 2 and then home thru Fugel's Mill and Simpson.

I ended up with around 56 miles and the temps were starting to climb as I made it home.

So, it was a good workout for me considering I haven't been on the bike for a bit.

7/6/2010

I did my Eyota to Dover route tonight, but they have started the road construction north of Dover.

So instead of coming back in on cty 9, I just turned around and backtracked home.

The humidity was pretty high and it wasn't long before the sweat was getting into my eyes. I guess I should carry just some plain H2O in a bottle for washing off on these type of days...

Sat. 7/3/2010

Well, I made it down to Austin and met up with a number of Silver boys as they once again placed their mark on the annual Spam race.

I didn't get an official count, but there had to be 12 to 15 Silver in attendence.

As usual, the pace at the start was brutal and with a stiff tail wind it was even more brutal this year. Everytime I glanced down at my speedometer, it read 32 mph.

Just before we turned east (and into a head-cross wind), H-wood and Todd Peterson launched an attack. Two others went with them (one guy from Flanders and one from the group from Owatonna).

With so many other Silvers in the group, the pace slowed as they let the break get away. No one else stepped up to the front to chase them down, so we all settled in for the rest of the race. Which was good for me, because I was well past my comfort stage.

We turned south (into the nice stiff 20+mph headwind), and I smartly tucked in back on the the left side of the group. There were a number of Silver near the front and to the right of the group. We moved along nicely, until someone cut off Chris and he went down (along with Sea Ray, Expresso, and two other riders).

As I went past, I noticed the Silver jerseys in the mix, so I pulled off and turned back to see if there was anything I could do. Chris was in the ditch and he laid there for a bit, while Ted was chatting with him. when he turned over, his face was pretty bloody, he had a nice couple of cuts by his left eye (one above and one below). Chris sat up for a bit and started to feel a bit better, but was pretty light headed. I told Expresso and Sea Ray to go on and ride in and I would stay with Chris until a SAG vehicle showed up.

I guess we waited about 10 minutes for the SAG, we put Chris' bike in and the SAG guy had some paper towels for Chris to hold over his cuts.

As Chris got in, I got back on and started the ride back in. Now of course, I was alone and had to tackle the headwinds for the next 5 or 6 miles by myself. But I made it back anyway.

H-wood ended second overall, with Todd finishing fourth, the girls finished 1, 2, 3, plus we had anumber of others finish up in the individual categories (Bruce finished 3rd in the 50-59 age group).

So a pretty good showing considering our group was missing 4 riders to the big crash (3 strong riders and me)...

7/1/2010

Well, I've missed a lot of opportunities to get out a ride lately. Mostly because: the weather, family-related travel, weddings, work-related travel, and being lazy.

Anyway, I got out for 32 miles last Friday (6/25) and got in 20 miles today (7/1).

I am planning on meeting up with Silver and the boys at the annual SPAM race this weekend. And Yes, I am in no way, shape, or form, ready for a 25 mile race.

I'm guessing it will be more like a ride for me, as I watch the group pedal away at some point early on in the race.

Oh well, at least I can't get lost and I get a cool t-shirt out of the deal...