Hellyeah

I've spent the past couple of days since Thursday in Cincinnati hanging out with the family, eating lots of food, sleeping, drinking, and riding. None of it is exciting other than the riding, but except to a small minority of people, even that's not very exciting.

Thursday: Just about 72 miles into Northern Kentucky. Something like 2400KJ burned and an average wattage of 205 for four hours of riding (I think) I was looking so forward to a hard Kentucky ride and I got one. Back when I first started riding road, I immediately hooked-up with the Campus Cyclery guys because, well, it was the bike shop less than a block from where I lived. It was there that I went when I needed some tool, part, or tube. Brian, the store manager, and Glenn, the owner, were nice to me at first, but as they got to know me, we struck-up a friendship that continues to this day, rooted in lots of smack-talk, naturally.

At some point, as I got fitter and started racing, I was invited to the Tuesday and Thursday evening shop rides which left from the UPS depot downtown. 40-60 mile hammer-rides into Northern Kentucky -- these rides were hard and did more to help me learn about riding well than anything I'd read in books. The original group's disbanded somewhat, but the Team Hungry guys have kept the rides going.

Thursday, I confirmed with Mike Chewning that the ride was to go on at the normal time and showed up after riding the long way from my mom's house to find Glenn and two Hungry riders. Mark Hooton, still Cincinnati's only messenger showed up, too. After working a whole day on the bike in 85+ degree heat. Off we went, we started upon the "Dairy Queen Ride" that naturally finished at a DQ in Newport. Out on Rt. 8, I settled in to a good pace, pushing on the flats. In Silver Grove, we split off from Glenn -- he wanted a flat ride and we were looking for some hurting. Up came the first of several good climbs and I just slid backward down the hill. At one point, I fancied myself a good climber, but Mark and Scott, the Hungry rider in our group of three, flew up the hill. Chicago's done a number on me, alright.

On and on we went, hitting some descents at 45+ mph, crawling up some hills at 10 mph. A medium cone of soft-serve from Dairy Queen got me home, and I was in the door at about 9:40 pm, tired and gross. Perfect.

Friday: An "easy" recovery ride, if you count sweating up a 15% grade easy. Visited Mark to pick up a new bottom bracket and then went by Campus to have it installed. My crank no longer wobbles and my bike no longer rattles with the sound of a loose BB. About time.

Saturday: Tired from a night of hanging out with my brothers, I went on one of my favorite solo rides on the west side. Bombing Thompson and Lockwood Hill, I saw speeds over 45 mph, and could've gone faster if it weren't for cars ahead of me. I was thinking of doing the Cleves TT loop for an extra 10 or 20 miles, but I had to get myself home to visit the grandparents and eat way more curry than I should have.

Sunday: I woke up late from seeing my brother Ian's band Make It Nasty play a show, I only got out on the bike in the afternoon and ahead of what looked to be some nasty clouds. I felt better than I did Saturday and pushed harder in the little time I had. Nothing special, except a variation on the day before's route. The rain never appeared, so I botched what could have been a nice long day.

Tomorrow, back to Chicago, the LFP, and Sheridan Road. Dammit.