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762 Posts
Ok, here it goes:
Yesterday, July 25th. Living in KC, we've had a cold-front coming through, putting yesterday's daytime high right at 70-72 degrees. Low humidity, and clear blue skies.
I was supposed to go ride some offroad trails with a friend, but he wound up getting cought up with one of his other friends to go to the lake (a little chilly for me, so I decided to do my own thing). So, since it rained all day Saturday... the trails were really boggy.
I decided to go for an endurance / training / fun ride. Pavement, i'll mind you. Now, I own a 2004 Demo 9 Pro. Not exactly the bike of choice for such a ride. Thankfully, my sister owns a 2000 Schwinn Mesa GS. It's pretty beat up, but functions just fine. I got the bike from here, and decided to put some skinnier, really worn out, old IRC mythos tires on there. I put 85 PSI of pressure in them, threw on my "xc-style" beer jersey, loaded up my camelbak with beef-jerky & water, and set off for my ride.
Next to my house is a trail system, that's paved, and if you ride the whole thing is approximately a 98 mile loop. Not having a road bike, I decided to keep it a little shorter than that, so I took the ~70 mile option. (leaving out one end of the loop).
So, by myself I rode. I rode HARD for the first 20 miles and then stopped at a picnic area to munch some beef jerky. Sittin' in the sun, and enjoying the scenery (the creek), i munched my peppered beef jerky. After a nice little break, I saw a group of about 5-6 roadies fly by. As I wanted to go hard, why not try to keep up with them? So that's exactly what I did. I pedaled right up behind them.. and stuck in the back of their group.
They looked at me real funny... wearing a mtb helmet, wearing azonic catalyst shorts, a beer jersey, and skate shoes... and I was sticking right with them (and they were hauling ass). That felt great, as I stuck with them for over 10 miles, leaving their group as they went the other direction.
Anyway, so the day was absolutely great. 70-ish miles, a great time keeping up with the roadies, and a wonderful sunny day. It was an epic ride. A ride that should've sucked, but it didnt. A ride that actually brought my down, crappy, cloudy, mood.. into something worth a darn.
It was beutiful.
-Matt
Yesterday, July 25th. Living in KC, we've had a cold-front coming through, putting yesterday's daytime high right at 70-72 degrees. Low humidity, and clear blue skies.
I was supposed to go ride some offroad trails with a friend, but he wound up getting cought up with one of his other friends to go to the lake (a little chilly for me, so I decided to do my own thing). So, since it rained all day Saturday... the trails were really boggy.
I decided to go for an endurance / training / fun ride. Pavement, i'll mind you. Now, I own a 2004 Demo 9 Pro. Not exactly the bike of choice for such a ride. Thankfully, my sister owns a 2000 Schwinn Mesa GS. It's pretty beat up, but functions just fine. I got the bike from here, and decided to put some skinnier, really worn out, old IRC mythos tires on there. I put 85 PSI of pressure in them, threw on my "xc-style" beer jersey, loaded up my camelbak with beef-jerky & water, and set off for my ride.
Next to my house is a trail system, that's paved, and if you ride the whole thing is approximately a 98 mile loop. Not having a road bike, I decided to keep it a little shorter than that, so I took the ~70 mile option. (leaving out one end of the loop).
So, by myself I rode. I rode HARD for the first 20 miles and then stopped at a picnic area to munch some beef jerky. Sittin' in the sun, and enjoying the scenery (the creek), i munched my peppered beef jerky. After a nice little break, I saw a group of about 5-6 roadies fly by. As I wanted to go hard, why not try to keep up with them? So that's exactly what I did. I pedaled right up behind them.. and stuck in the back of their group.
They looked at me real funny... wearing a mtb helmet, wearing azonic catalyst shorts, a beer jersey, and skate shoes... and I was sticking right with them (and they were hauling ass). That felt great, as I stuck with them for over 10 miles, leaving their group as they went the other direction.
Anyway, so the day was absolutely great. 70-ish miles, a great time keeping up with the roadies, and a wonderful sunny day. It was an epic ride. A ride that should've sucked, but it didnt. A ride that actually brought my down, crappy, cloudy, mood.. into something worth a darn.
It was beutiful.
-Matt
