Weekday Meditation

Yesterday, just before I left work I wrote out a little list of all the things I wanted/needed to accomplish that evening.

After a review I tacked on "Quick Ride." The Lovely Bicycle has a great post yesterday about enjoying the cool ride. It made me wistful reading it at work! Remembering the feeling I added it to my list.

When I got home the house was quiet so I quickly changed & grabbed my bike before anyone derailed my plans.

It was the best ride ever! Alone, quiet, and I didn't ride with any traffic until the last 2 miles. The light filtering through the trees was so warm and the beauty of the countryside had me feeling like I was inside one of LB's posts!

I tried to capture it on my phone but it was no good. Instead I'll hold onto it in my memory & maybe try again today.

Event Planning

This past weekend was all about the Buffalo Bill Century Ride. Our local bike club has hosted this ride for 31 years! I've ridden it once (the 25 mile route) and then bam, I am in charge of SAGs. The ride has 3 mileage options, 25-62-100 miles & we post a SAG every 10 miles.

The day was beautiful and we hit our target numbers! 174 cyclist came out and road our course. The route was spectacular. Rolling hills, beautiful foliage, & 77 degree weather all day! We will never get such a perfect day. We had nothing but positive feedback from the riders. I was a bit jealous that I was working the event and not riding it!

I have never done an event like this and to be in charge of such a large part of it worried me a little. I knew it was a success at 4:30 pm when I was wrapping up things on the road and I realized we had no accidents and no major hiccups! I had a great feeling of satisfaction. I picked a great year to be apart of the Buffalo Bill Century!

Caught in the Rain

Last night I had a meeting across town. I left my office by 5 pm and noticed the sky looking ominous. It was to the west so I decided to go ahead and ride my bike to the meeting.

3 miles into the ride sprinkles started. I can handle sprinkles and then BAM. Wind and rain. It felt like it was getting pretty intense so I started to look for shelter. I saw a school and road up to the front doors that had about two feet of awning. I just got underneath and it started to hail. Wow. I had no idea we were in for actual weather! I texted Lance in case he was worried and then made an executive decision. The rain was letting up and I could see some sunshine so I decided to go for it.

Wet brooks saddle & leather bag. Oops.

I texted Lance back and asked him to bring me a change of clothes for the meeting and off I went. The streets were wet but it was wonderful. I love the cool, freshness of rain. I made it to all the way to the intersection of the place where the meeting was at and then BAM, again. The skies opened up and poured buckets on me. I was soaked. But it was fantastic.

Soaked!

Weekend Ride

I got up early Saturday morning to join a group ride to Tonganoxie & back. I checked the weather & it said 55 degrees! What!? It has been so long since those temps I wasn't sure how to proceed. What did I even wear to ride in the cold last year? I found some leggings & piled on the layers.

5 miles into the ride I warmed up & enjoyed the brisk, beautiful morning. The Kansas countryside was refreshing. I had anticipated that it would take almost 2 hours to get to my destination. Imagine my surprise when I made it in 1 hr & 20 minutes! Bam! Then I realized that the only other times I had road this route I was fully loaded. You can ride a lot faster without 45 lbs of gear! 

I abstained but man these looked good.

Total miles for the morning ride was 45. Not bad for a random Saturday! I struggle to ride long rides on Saturdays. Lance is working and I usually take that time to do household stuff. I was regretting signing up for the ride but I am so glad I went. It was peaceful and I need some peace. The Century Ride is next weekend and I am in charge of 10 SAGs!

Sunday Ride

This past Sunday our bike club had a picnic and ride. I haven't road with a group in almost a month. It was a hot when we road out into the county. Usually, I'm at the back of the pack because I have a great steel touring bike with larger tires. Most folks have light weight road bikes with skinny wheels. Somehow, this ride I managed to lead the pack. Surprised, I started taking note on my accomplishments.

1. I was able to climb this crazy steep hill AND talk. Yes, I was breathing heavy but I was still yammering away.

2. I took the long decent without touching my brakes once! I used to drag my brakes to keep my speed down. Now I love a good decent.

3. I can climb a hill and not grumble. I don't dread hills at all. I just take them at face value and climb them. Really in my area of the country you can't avoid them so you might as well embrace them.

I'm pretty proud of how far I've come. I am, dare I say, a strong rider! Maybe I'll head out on group rides more often.

Labor Day Tour 94 miles

I woke up this morning, wishing I was packing a tent and headed out for a few hours cycling. I've heard the more cycle touring you do the more you want to do. Truth!

Our weekend adventure was rewarding and enlightening. Without the stress of having to get on the road as soon as possible, we were able to travel leisurely. Which was great because Sunday morning we scrambled into a picnic shelter mere minutes before a downpour that lasted 2 hours.

Day 1

Day 1We traveled from home to Leavenworth State Fishing Lake. It took us 2 hours to get to Tonganoxie, KS and another hour to get to the Lake! What a shock that was. We took the most direct route which I'm pretty sure qualified me for the Dirty Kansa. Several miles of steep, graveled, hills. I felt so accomplished when we finally made it! The lake was lovely. Total mileage that afternoon 28.86 miles.

Old Military Trail Camp

Day 2 Leavenworth State Fishing Lake to Lake Perry. This ride was so quick and enjoyable. We started out on some gravel and then turned onto asphalt. We road through McLouth and onto Ozakie. There were lots of rollers but I've given over to the fact that you can't avoid hills in Eastern KS. You'd never get anywhere! Our campsite was on top of a ridge that looked over the lake. As I said before, it is a hiker only site. It was perfect! And free! Total mileage 23.25 miles

The road was closed but we made it through!

Day 3 Perry Lake to home via Winchester & Easton. This ride took a little longer and was nothing but hills all day. Still enjoyable though. We road through Winchester hoping to eat at the cafe but they were closed for Labor Day. We still had food with us so we made lunch in front of the cafe and splurged on gas station ice cream cones. I tend to remissness a lot when we ride through Easton. I lived there throughout my childhood and am always surprised the memories that stir when I go through. Easton is in the Stranger Creek Valley and has a 4 mile climb up out of it towards Leavenworth. We stopped at the Hilltop at the top of the climb and rewarded ourselves with curly fries. Neither one of us had eaten at the Hilltop before. Outside it looks like an old gas station. Inside it's as large as a barn and full of every convenience item you could want including a cafe! Score! Refueled by the fries we road the remaining miles home. Total mileage 42 miles

Home!

Once home I commented to Lance how nice the riding was. We road in 48 hours what we road in 1 day on our vacation! It's the destination not the miles that makes these trips fun. And I love uninterrupted Lance time. He was already researching another excursion last night!