"Crusty Jugglers"

Something I saw on my ride yesterday deserves mention.  You'll be happy to know that I did make it out to Grant's Trail - which was surprisingly unpopulated for how nice of an evening it was.  It made for a beautiful ride, but that's not what what I'm here about.

Off in the distance coming down the other side of the path was a jogger - that much I could tell.  But there seemed to be a lot of, oh, miscellaneous movement around him that I couldn't put my finger on from as far away as I was.  Luckily, with my pace I was able to close the gap quickly.

All that miscellaneous movement?  Juggling clubs!  No joke.  This guy was jogging at an admirable stride, while juggling 3 clubs - like it was nothing!  I don't know who jogs and juggles, but, sir, whoever you are, you certainly give all those Bud Light Real American Geniuses a run for their money.  I am impressed.

(For the kids keeping track at home, here's the wrap-up:)

Dist: 16.14 miles

Avg: 14.5 mph

Mx: 22.5

Time: 1:06.39

Now that's a little less embarrassing that my previous Grant's Trail ride.

It's been a "berry" long time...

Oh, this is embarassing, folks. I have not been on the bike since the Spring Kick Off ride. Yup, do the math and that's a full 2 weeks since I've ridden. I'm going to go ahead and be soft on myself, and say that because of the non-stop torrential rain we've been having combined with my lack of any rain gear whatsoever (despite a co-worker's recommendation that I just use a garbage bag in place of a rain-proof windbreaker), I can't really be blamed. It makes me feel better about myself - don't judge me.

The lack of riding means not much to report. I have every intention to bang out a few miles tonight after work, and posting that intention publicly means that I have that much more motivation to follow through with it. What also looks appealing is the Berry Bicycle Ride in St. Jacob, IL, this Sunday. Come on, who doesn't like "free" strawberry shortcake at the end of a ride? We've got some friends coming over on Saturday night, so if I can stay responsible this looks like a "go" for sure.

P.S. For those of you who are wondering, I did not participate in Bike to Work Week this week. The portion of Big Bend in between our house and work is a bit too trecherous for my taste.

Spring Kick-Off (with pictures!)!

Whoooowhee! Are my legs tired! Yesterday was the MS Spring Kick-Off Ride out in Chesterfield. Dad and I decided to go for the 27 rather than the 37 mile-route, which ended up being a good thing because of a serious delay we experienced about half-way into our ride. Just 2.5 miles out from the rest-stop/turn-around for the 27 miler, Dad suffered a flat tire. It took about 15 minutes to repair the tube enough to make it to the rest-stop (conveniently located in a horse pasture!).

At the stop, however, we realized that the tire itself had been compromised, which meant even more delays as the generous and helpful folks from Big Shark saw that my Dad's tire was patched and fit to make it back to the start. I'll tell you what, though - I say it's a fine thing that we only rode 27+ miles yesterday. While it would have been an extreme psychological boost to have done the 37 this early into my training, I think my legs and ass-bones are thanking me today (that's not to say that they aren't still throbbing).

The route was much more hilly than any rides I have put myself out on to-date. There was one bastard of a climb that forced me off my bike and I found myself walking most of the way. Once again, though, I survived to cycle another day - which will hopefully be sooner rather than later.

Today I took the much-needed bike break and walked the dog with my husband through Forest Park instead. I may try to squeeze in a ride tomorrow after work, but the weather looks thunder-stormy and we're going to see Glen Hansard and Markita Irglova at the Pageant in the evening, so we'll see. I've still got 4 months, right??? Right.




Dist: 27.34 miles
Avg: 13.5 mph
Mx: 31.8 mph - that was on the downhill side of the bastard hill
Time: 2.01.00

Maps!

Got another ride in last night - man, was it nice to go from low 30s to upper 70s yesterday. This St. Louis weather has been crazy, but I'm beginning to feel that I will have less and less complaints about the cold and rainy days and will find myself whining more about how hot and muggy it is as we get into May.

Last night's ride found me out on the roads of St. Charles. It was my dad's day off, so I met him out at my folks' house after work and we rode through the city, down Kingshighway to the new N 5th Street, and out to the Little Hills Expressway/Mueller Road. Not much of a shoulder there, which made things interesting when a rather aggressive fuel truck came barreling by, but again, I survived. The return trip meant a more than moderate climb up Zumbehl Road. Much to my surprise, I was able to stay on the bike the whole time! Did the entire climb in the saddle.

Finished up feeling good, but like I had really pushed myself both in speed and in tackling hills. This morning I'm hurtin', but in the way that makes you feel like you did something right. I don't know if I'll be riding again tonight - even so, I feel ready for at least the shorter of the two routes this upcoming weekend.

In the meantime, I came across this fairly cool website, www.mapmyride.com, where you can do just that. I'm going to see if it works here:

04/30 Ride Wrap-Up:
Dist: 13.98 miles (my map skills are approximate - I'm going with my CatEye numbers here)
Avg: 12.3 mph (hills brought this number down)
Mx: 28.7 mph
Time: 1.07.40