I stayed up late Thursday night to greet Wifey when she arrived home from her week of dropping knowledge on work peeps in D.C.. After a brief meet and greet where we tried to catch each other up on the week’s events, it was off to bed so as to be up early for B’s parent/teacher conferences in the morning. Thankfully his school is literally right across the street and his conferences are usually a breeze. We were happy to get a good report from his teacher and even happier with word of continued straight A’s (pardon my proud dad moment, but straight A’s is something I NEVER saw in school. Hell, I’m not sure I ever got an A in anything besides my art classes).
Once home, B and Wifey headed out for the 6.5 hour drive back to western PA for a quick visit with family and I set about getting my bike ready for the day’s road ride.
The temperature was supposed to get up in the 50s, but it was clear that if I waited around for that to happen I would waste most of the day sitting around drinking coffee in a pool of my own, Thursday night bolognese sauce gas stink. So, I ventured out into the crisp mid-thirties air with hopes that it would warm up quickly.
A Michiganderburgh barn in black and white.
My plan was to do at least the 27 mile loop that I did on Wednesday, but add in more if I felt up to it. Well, I felt good, so instead of making the right turn to complete the 27 mile loop, I turned left and headed out for one of my standard in-season road loops; a forty-one mile ride from Mt. P. up through the metropolis of Weidman and back. Typical Michiganderburgh stuff which included crap roads, a bit of dirt, cows, chickens and bison farm or two.
One of two bison farms I rode past on the day.
I was happy that my legs felt good, but I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t just a tad warmer out. Yeah, I’m the malcontent complaining about riding in the high 30s and 40s after riding in just one degree two weeks ago. Some people are never happy.
Just before the half way point of the ride, I made my way into and out the other side of Weidman proper and the bank clock said it was 41˚. I couldn’t make up my mind if I was happy about that or not. I decided I was happy enough, but with roughly 20 more miles to go in the ride I was just hoping that my legs–still covered in a thick layer of winter blubber–were going to get me home!
Thankfully, Michiganderburgh pavement never stays dirt-free for too long.
It’s funny how the first few rides of the spring can be. First you’re just stoked to be out on your bike and not freezing to death. Soon enough you’re convincing yourself that going from 20 mile fat bike rides to a 27 mile road ride to 41 mile road ride in the span of about five days is totally the right thing to do. Before you know it, that 41 mile road ride that you think nothing of doing in May or June is now a big deal to you.
Cow 1537 photo bomb.
It’s also sort of funny how when I started the ride today I felt great for the first 25 miles, then started to question my decision to do the loop. Five miles later I was wondering where I was getting the energy to propel my ever-growing ass down the road. Then as I neared mile forty I realized that the morning’s breakfast was long gone and I was running on nothing but coffee fumes and water, the air was still chilly and I was growing more and more eager to get home to a hot shower and a late lunch. It felt great!
I supposed it’s worth noting that the temperatures did finally make it up into the fifties, but sadly that was a few hours after I arrived home.
I was happy to get out today and happier that I pushed myself to do the 41 miles in 41˚ temps instead of settling for a Better Than The Trainer Loop™ and calling it a day. When you’re training for nothing in particular, it’s the little things that can make a ride worth doing.
Later.