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Today's Excursion
I'm sorry to you guys who have not been taking the opportunities to ride with me this summer. I'm just going to put it out there right now that--no--I have not been sitting around waiting for you people. Team of Freds has been riding, and that is sometimes just me. I ride and you all miss out. So sorry.
Today's excurson began immediately after indulgence in sweets at the coffee shop the caloric level of which was way more than necessary for such things. Really.. seriously, is it really necessary for an oatmeal raisin cookie to a) be that big, or b) have that much sugar and fat in it? NO.. it is not. It would still have tasted yummy if it had been smaller. And stratta? 550 calories? really.. that's almost twice what I had figured. However, I wasn't too interested in NOT indulging. Next week though, I think a quick stop through Taco Bell for a fresco burrito supreme will be better since it has half that many calories and is a) yummy and b) more filling.
Anyway, now that I've got that out, here's the cut for all you all who don't want to read about my celebration of life and health and youth.
Well, So I once I got back home from the coffee shop known for much to expensive coffee, (the coffee of which is 100% swill) but which has actually made an advance in environmental friendliness by putting my tea in a bigol' ceramic mug now instead of plasticated paper. I unloaded Mikey (The Bikey™) from the back of Nissan Thom and once things were situated, (seat on, gloves on, aerobar pads on, bike dried off from the heavy rain that had happened while I was gone, thank goodness I had taken the seat off and tossed it in Thom's back seat yesterday) and getting my hated Lid on, mounted up and set out.
At first, I thought to make a short 5 mile trip. So I headed down the street to the Kauffman Path, and headed south. Generally speaking if I go down to National Road (which is where hte trail actually crosses to the other side of Kauffman Rd often requiring a walking crossing.) and back, that's a nice neat 5 miles. It's a nice ride, with a few nice climbs, but nothing too taxing... maybe one semi-long 30° climb if it's that. It's never really hard work. I managed it without much trouble. I'm pretty strong. Most of the time I was about 16 miles per hour. A little slower on the stiffer climbs and a little faster on the descents. I don't coast descents. I power down those too. So my top speed was achieved on that segment at 23.8.
When I got back to my turn off, I felt like I was just getting warmed up, so I just went on. I went on up the path to the North towards town. Now I know what you're thinking. Why put on a lid if you're only going to ride the path. But I have found that when riding around in town, even if I start on the path, I often digress before long and end up on real roads, and though I dislike wearing the thing, it is in my best interest. My dad did not spend $200 making sure I had THE state of the art Giro Atmos helmet for me to eschew wearing it when I ride roads, and leave my cranium and the soft mush inside unprotected. So when riding local, I generally put it on, so that when (usually not if) I diverge onto roads, I have it.)
Now, Kauffman Path is incomplete too. It crosses the tracks and you can see where the old rail bed is being prepared to carry the path on over to where it picks up again over on the east side of town... but it has been prepared for 5 years and has not yet been laid. SO it goes on up towards down and then sort of unceremoniously dumps you out onto the street about 3 blocks south of town on central (on the wrong side of the road too.) So usually I ride through the neighborhood into town... I rode up the walk today, to Dayton Street and then cut through neighborhoods to Main, and rode that over to Maple.
At that point, I had the choice to go up one block back to Dayton and then back down Central and home for my 10 miles, or conquer the arch bridge that crosses the rail. Well I hadn't done that yet this year, so I chose the path less travelled and took the arch. That's a stiff ride, and I nearly missed the turn onto the walk, so I started on a 30° incline from 0 mph in the wrong gear. OWIE! but in a moment I got it downshifted and was merrily spinning up the slop at a frantic 6 mph hahahah! THen down... but I can't power down that hill becuase I'm on the walk, ne? So it's all brake brake brake brake... then once at the bottom I can go out onto the road.
Now having crossed the arch, I have again the choice.. do I cut through the neighborhoods back to Kauffman and the path? Or do I tackle Maple hill... I chose the hill.. again becuase I had not done it yet this year. So up I went. Maple hill is not one slow incline. It's in stages. Three stiff climbs broken with slight declines and a little straightaway. So it's really not too bad. Takes strong legs and most people climb it on the walk. I climb it on the road because it never occurs to people to cut their branches over the walk, so I get tired of having to either duck them, push them over my head or hope they don't knock me off my bike. So it's road up Maple Hill.
At the very top of maple there's another incline, but I didn't take it. I Didn't feel like dealing with the traffic at the big intersection today, and by tthe time I got home from there, I'd have my 10 miles of good active exertion. So I cut through the neighborhood from the top street the eight remaining tenths of a mile back to my house. Dismounted, unlidded, and packed up the gear. Loaded the bike back on Nissan Thom who holds it for me all the time, and chucked the seat and lid and stuff back in Thom's back seat.
Overall a very enjoyable ride. I'd consider riding to work tomorrow, but actually, I'm not entirely sure how long it will take, and Ih ave stayed up too late now... so I guess I will wait until next Wednesday. Maybe Saturday I will ride from here to work and back to guage the distance and see how much time I need. In the mean time, it's storming again, so off to bed I go.
Today's excurson began immediately after indulgence in sweets at the coffee shop the caloric level of which was way more than necessary for such things. Really.. seriously, is it really necessary for an oatmeal raisin cookie to a) be that big, or b) have that much sugar and fat in it? NO.. it is not. It would still have tasted yummy if it had been smaller. And stratta? 550 calories? really.. that's almost twice what I had figured. However, I wasn't too interested in NOT indulging. Next week though, I think a quick stop through Taco Bell for a fresco burrito supreme will be better since it has half that many calories and is a) yummy and b) more filling.
Anyway, now that I've got that out, here's the cut for all you all who don't want to read about my celebration of life and health and youth.
Well, So I once I got back home from the coffee shop known for much to expensive coffee, (the coffee of which is 100% swill) but which has actually made an advance in environmental friendliness by putting my tea in a bigol' ceramic mug now instead of plasticated paper. I unloaded Mikey (The Bikey™) from the back of Nissan Thom and once things were situated, (seat on, gloves on, aerobar pads on, bike dried off from the heavy rain that had happened while I was gone, thank goodness I had taken the seat off and tossed it in Thom's back seat yesterday) and getting my hated Lid on, mounted up and set out.
At first, I thought to make a short 5 mile trip. So I headed down the street to the Kauffman Path, and headed south. Generally speaking if I go down to National Road (which is where hte trail actually crosses to the other side of Kauffman Rd often requiring a walking crossing.) and back, that's a nice neat 5 miles. It's a nice ride, with a few nice climbs, but nothing too taxing... maybe one semi-long 30° climb if it's that. It's never really hard work. I managed it without much trouble. I'm pretty strong. Most of the time I was about 16 miles per hour. A little slower on the stiffer climbs and a little faster on the descents. I don't coast descents. I power down those too. So my top speed was achieved on that segment at 23.8.
When I got back to my turn off, I felt like I was just getting warmed up, so I just went on. I went on up the path to the North towards town. Now I know what you're thinking. Why put on a lid if you're only going to ride the path. But I have found that when riding around in town, even if I start on the path, I often digress before long and end up on real roads, and though I dislike wearing the thing, it is in my best interest. My dad did not spend $200 making sure I had THE state of the art Giro Atmos helmet for me to eschew wearing it when I ride roads, and leave my cranium and the soft mush inside unprotected. So when riding local, I generally put it on, so that when (usually not if) I diverge onto roads, I have it.)
Now, Kauffman Path is incomplete too. It crosses the tracks and you can see where the old rail bed is being prepared to carry the path on over to where it picks up again over on the east side of town... but it has been prepared for 5 years and has not yet been laid. SO it goes on up towards down and then sort of unceremoniously dumps you out onto the street about 3 blocks south of town on central (on the wrong side of the road too.) So usually I ride through the neighborhood into town... I rode up the walk today, to Dayton Street and then cut through neighborhoods to Main, and rode that over to Maple.
At that point, I had the choice to go up one block back to Dayton and then back down Central and home for my 10 miles, or conquer the arch bridge that crosses the rail. Well I hadn't done that yet this year, so I chose the path less travelled and took the arch. That's a stiff ride, and I nearly missed the turn onto the walk, so I started on a 30° incline from 0 mph in the wrong gear. OWIE! but in a moment I got it downshifted and was merrily spinning up the slop at a frantic 6 mph hahahah! THen down... but I can't power down that hill becuase I'm on the walk, ne? So it's all brake brake brake brake... then once at the bottom I can go out onto the road.
Now having crossed the arch, I have again the choice.. do I cut through the neighborhoods back to Kauffman and the path? Or do I tackle Maple hill... I chose the hill.. again becuase I had not done it yet this year. So up I went. Maple hill is not one slow incline. It's in stages. Three stiff climbs broken with slight declines and a little straightaway. So it's really not too bad. Takes strong legs and most people climb it on the walk. I climb it on the road because it never occurs to people to cut their branches over the walk, so I get tired of having to either duck them, push them over my head or hope they don't knock me off my bike. So it's road up Maple Hill.
At the very top of maple there's another incline, but I didn't take it. I Didn't feel like dealing with the traffic at the big intersection today, and by tthe time I got home from there, I'd have my 10 miles of good active exertion. So I cut through the neighborhood from the top street the eight remaining tenths of a mile back to my house. Dismounted, unlidded, and packed up the gear. Loaded the bike back on Nissan Thom who holds it for me all the time, and chucked the seat and lid and stuff back in Thom's back seat.
Overall a very enjoyable ride. I'd consider riding to work tomorrow, but actually, I'm not entirely sure how long it will take, and Ih ave stayed up too late now... so I guess I will wait until next Wednesday. Maybe Saturday I will ride from here to work and back to guage the distance and see how much time I need. In the mean time, it's storming again, so off to bed I go.
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I don't think I'm going to get that stratta any more though. It's good, but it's not *that* good that I can't have something else. I was just trying to find something that I could eat for dinner that I thought might not be too overboard.