Cool Outside – Stronger Me!

Cool Outside – Stronger Me!

 

Yesterday was one of my best rides in Bloomington.  I just felt strong!  Strong is a good way to feel when you are out riding.  I think a lot of it had to do with cooler temperatures settling in the Midwest over the last three or four days and thank the light it looks like they might hold for at least another week. 

35 miles, 3 hours and seven minutes and 1,555 ft gained, and I felt good.  Real, good!  I think I already said that once before.  As I told Coach on Training Peaks after the ride “Felt great today.  Weather was cool and I felt strong.  I was riding a lot more upfront today.”  I over shot my target by about 10 miles, I was supposed to ride 25 miles, but what can I say, I got bored and wanted to get out and start riding yesterday, so I coned Kona and headed out. 

Kona has some serious bad wounds on her back feet.  They have been like that since late May or early June.  Makes me feel bad.  So, for the last few weeks she has been on pretty much 100% cone time.  The feet look a bit better, but not great.  It is like they get better then break open again.  She goes back to the vet on Friday.  Poor girl.  She has become an expert at resting her toys in her cone, which I think is hilarious.  Anyway… back to the ride. 

I went out on my own, but I didn’t want to miss the Club ride because they were going out east and that is really one of my favorite rides with the club.  It is a toss-up between that one and going to Ellettsville.  So, I wanted to make sure, even though I was starting early, that I was going to be at the Launchpad at one thirty.

I started out the same way I did last Sunday.  Heading over to Bloomington Speedway and going right, taking that to church road and riding it till it ran out.  Then I took Rogers or what I call Rogers to the gravel path and took that path all the way to the Bline.  The B-line take me through Bloomington and to the bridge that measured 5 miles right in the middle of it last week.  So, once again in a magical work of physics at the midpoint of the bridge this week, I was only at 4.8 miles, not the five from last week.  I think we might have some non-standard 3 body problem shit going on in the B. I continued the Bline till it ran out and then turned and headed back to the launchpad.  When I got there, I still had some time to kill, so I road back to the gravel path, and then turned and came back.   Then it was time for the group ride.

It was a good group. I think there were 8 to 10 of us.  I am starting to recognize everyone.  So that is pretty cool.  It is good to get to know people.  I had several conversations with folks as we rode.  I think John was the retired physics professor I rode with a bit.  This dude had the freaking biggest calves I have ever seen.  I wanted to ask him about my mysterious issue of missing mileage, but I didn’t.  I spoke with Greg he was another dude I had ridden with before.  We talked about how sometimes on longer rides your but just hurts.   It was sort of cool at the turn around Allen the ride leader started bragging on me about how I was out doing 10 to 20 miles before I met up with the group.  He must have been looking at my strava.  It still felt good someone was noticing. 

This picture is not my favorite.  It highlights some of the body issues I have been having lately.  I am not going to get into that right now.  It is what it is.  I am only human, and I love me for me.  That is all I can do right now.  😊