Champlin-Minneapolis-Marine-Champlin

Great ride today with high school friends and a couple of the Northwest Geeks. Steve D. continues to impress as did my friends, Bob T. and Scott S., who commute and were very strong. Mike B. is working too much but is still very strong. He always is. Beautiful ride and fun with a ton of variety. Minneapolis and St. Paul were just waking up and the Stillwater Marine area is always great! 95 miles on my mountain bike.

I am riding my MTB this week in Colorado. I am looking forward to doing Fall River Road, a dirt road mountain pass in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Oh, and I love centuries. I love being there for when people get their first century. It changes the way a person relates to riding. I have been there for Garret, Jake, Blake, Brett, Adam, Jake C., John, Jeff, Larry, Dave, Belinda, Scott, Bob, and I am sure I am missing some others. It is great to be there when people accomplish this mark! Was I there for yours Bill? I don't think that I was. Wait... I was there for Bill's and Mike, Scott, and Jason's too! Who else? I know that I am missing some. Craig? Yes Craig too but that was mostly Belinda's doing. Way to go Bob and Scott!

Any way you slice it...

It comes up peanuts. The Tour is great dope and all! What a time trial and what a Tour. Heck, the doping even made it interesting. If you are stupid enough to do it or lie about it you're out. New life to those who are better at beating the system. Like Horner said, the Tour is life. I would add, crooks and all!

Elm Creek x 3

John R. and I rode in the rain last night and it was actually very nice. Elm Creek is deceiving. You go for a ride in the park and you come out completely shot. We were not hammering at all, just a steady pace and great conversation, but the roll to that park is so consistent. It is the best hill workout around. Elk River has it beat for steady climbing but for rolling hills and just a consistent grind, man Elm Creek is tough. My legs are shot this morning.

Good Night!

Say good night to the Tour at least for this year. Be your own hero, go post a time at the DIYTT and try to beat it! But don't use drugs to do it.

You Say Tomato

I don't get it...

Last night our ride leader calls for an easy ride in the heat, what do we get? The fastest ride of the year. And here is the thing, the people pushing didn’t win the race. We have a finish line to our rides and you would think the one that continued to tear the group apart all night would win the race part... not! In fact the catalyst wasn’t even in the finish. Melissa won the thing. First time with the group and she takes it. Cool! As I have said before, women rule!

Monologue from Hell on Wheels- TT

For me suffering has two meanings. Suffering can be negative. If you try to suffer for its own sake, that’s bad. That’s unhealthy. There’s something wrong in your head. But when you talk about suffering that you must get through and that you can survive through enormous effort, that is something else. That is positive, good and beautiful. Beautiful because you think of courage, of stamina , loyalty, the willingness to make sacrifices, modesty and love. From this perspective, the suffering during training, during sporting competitions, while doing one’s job, which all require great effort, is the same as religious suffering. It is love. It is beautiful. I like that.

Time Trialed the Fletcher Course this morning and tied my best time from last year. I have more I think. I had a full bottle on the bike and I think if I do it on a day when there is a group I will go faster. (23.57)

Delightful- Women Rule!

Rode a wonderful 100 miles today with a delightful group of people. Thanks everyone for a very enjoyable ride. The first 35 was the 144 and we had about 12 riders for that portion. It was a beautiful morning and Dave Hoglund kept us at an honest pace. At this point about half of the field was women. I am so excited for my daughter! The future is very bright!

The second stage was down to Dunn Brother's where I noted that Jeff has come a long way in his riding. Just another example of someone gaining great fitness in our group and having a great time doing it. The iced coffee was great and we checked in on the tour.

For stage three out to Baker Park and back home, Evan and Jason, of UJVFC fame, joined us. It was a nice ride until Jason peeled off and noted that our average speed was pretty low. This was a dirty trick because everyone knows that a triathlete can not deal with hearing that so our pace went up about 4 MPH. Nuts, I guess it was good.

That was it except for this... I asked Evan what was required to race Headwaters, where we have our year end party and ride, and he said, "You have to be able to ride 100 miles." Thank you Evan. Now you can also tour it for 30, 60 or 100 miles and hope our whole group makes it up there! The bit that bothers me is that some people want to race it and other riders told them they should reconsider... the riders that want to do it also have a plan for riding it together. How cool is that? I mean who in their right mind would tell someone not to do that? There are people who give energy and those who suck it up. Headwaters is a great place for ANYONE to try out racing, especially if you are doing it with friends! Go for it and join us for a TON of fun. It is about fun, isn't it?

Oh, one more thing the count at the end was 2 guys and 4 gals... cool!