Geez, May 10 was the last time I checked in? Ouch! I've been blogging regularly over in MySpace territory. I'll have to get this one up to date.
37 miles of hot riding earlier this week. Boiled my brain and rode against a strange wind. I never thought I'd say this, but it's more fun riding in the rain.
Saturday, June 23. I led a mid paced ride in a mist and then zipped back for the Tour de Brew, basically a pub crawl on bicycles. Stuffed myself silly on sausages at the East Moline Bier Stube.
Friday, June 22. I rode in the local Senior Olympics race. Last year, I was 2m 44s back of the leaders. This year I was 6m 20s down. The difference was that I was a good domestique and motored the first five miles to protect two of my teammates. Had I ridden with last year's gap, I would have only gained one position, and had I gotten my motor started a bit quicker after recovery, I might have even gained that position back as I was only down 15s. So it was a pretty good trade, as I see it.
Mountain bike riding...I've been to Sunderbruch Park and back to Sylvan Island. I keep mashing my right forearm, the one I scraped at the end of Tailwind. I gave a tree trunk a whack at Sunderbruch, and I leaned over too far in pea gravel at Sylvan. My skin is in various states of disrepair depending on how many times it was scraped.
TOMRV...I did day #1 of TOMRV,--Tour of Mississippi River Valley. 110 miles, lots of climbing in the last 40 miles. Two bridges I do not like, but for the first time, I rode both. I charged the last hundred yards of the last hill, got some cheers from another team on the hillside. We stayed in a wonderful b&b that night. The day after, my gf and I rode on the Heritage Trail, which starts in northwest Dubuque.
Balltown Classic...another DNF, but with a completely different complexion. I rode far more intelligently, but a little lackadaisically. Where I was burnt out after 105 last year, I was still strong at 130+ this year. I ran out of time, light and weather. When the rain started at dusk, I knew it was time to pull the plug. With more luck, more strength, and more pluck, I will make it next year.
Memorial Day Weekend...started in Burlington on the Friday beginning the four days. Followed the pro/1/2 race; those boys are just strong! Saturday was a lot of standing in rain and steam when the sun came out. Got to see a teammate take a win after the leader flatted. Muscatine came next, more standing, then riding over a 15mph speed bump at 35-40mph. Oh, joy. I got to sleep in my own bed on Sunday evening before going to the home event in Rock Island. A pretty even day, few crashes and only a couple of cheaters in the wheel pit.
QCBC 20K TT...fat is slow...I pegged my HR at 145 with a max of 154 (which I never do!)...and rode the slowest TT I've done in four years. I've got to drop some tonnage.
Bike resurrections...I rebuilt a pseudo-mtb that a friend pulled from a creek. Got it running just fine. I also found a late 50s Schwinn Corvette at an antique store and a late 70s Schwinn Tourist at a rummage sale. The Tourist only needed a tube for the rear tire. I've already got more than four hours of labor into the Corvette's front wheel, and I'm waiting on tires, S-7, odd proprietary size.
That's it. I'll try not to fall off the back again.
