Windy and warm as I made it out to do back-to-back 36-mile rides now this week since returning from vacation. At the start my legs were like 2X4′s but some miles, Bloks and fluids and I got into it. The wind made things tough at times, but with all sunshine and near 80 degrees, I am not going to complain.

I saw two things of note on this ride. For the first time in a long time I saw the one we call “The Knave” on the path in Franklin. Same look. Same old bike. Also today there was this roller-blade babe….ahh…lets just say I love warm summer weather.

Season Miles: 604

I say the REAL bike ride because I DID ride a bike on Vacation as you can see.

A dandy single-speed cruiser that I rode for about 20 miles over a couple of days while visiting Sanibel Island. Wonderful stuff, but not the same as real riding on a real road on a real road bike.

So with the washing machine cranking out a few loads of dirty laundry and the sun out I literally had to swipe away a cobweb from the handlebars of my Specialized before taking her out for 36 miles today on the old Three Bridges route.

Felt great to be riding again and to finally start burning off some of all that food I ate for a week straight. Time to straighten up and ride right for a while now and drop some weight for sure. I wore the Amgen Tour of California jersey and socks that I bought in L.A. at the TT a few years ago when I was lucky enough to attend…in honor of this being ATOC week.

Season Miles: 568

I checked the radar before leaving today because it quickly turned hot and humid and there were plenty of dark clouds around. But there was hazy sunshine too. What’s a guy with a short window of opportunity to ride to do? Well I decided to modify my route, making it shorter and closer to home by switching the plan to just doing some laps on the Elm Grove crit course. That way I figure if it starts to rain I am no more than 5-10 minutes from home. Getting caught in a thunderstorm was not in the plan today.

So rather than just do a few laps for some exercise I came up with a plan. Lap one would be a warm up lap and then I would start timing the laps using my riding watch, something I had never bothered to do before. So this could kind of be like doing a short speed workout. The plan for Lap 2 was to just set a base time. I did. 7:39.

The plan for Lap 2 was to try and better that time. I used the turn-around area near Elm Grove Village Hall to catch my breath, take a drink and zero out the watch while soft-pedaling to the start point again. I had it marked as to exactly where the watch would start and stop for each lap. Lap 3 was a success, bettering Lap 1 with a 7:07 this time.

The plan for Lap 4 would be to try to break the 7:00 mark. I started the lap hard knowing I had a specific goal in mind. There is only one place where I might have to wait for cars so I knew I would need some luck getting a clean lap in. It’s kind of like IndyCar qualifying on a road or street course. You need one fast, clean lap to post on the board. This was my chance. At the halfway point I looked down and saw I had three second to spare….I would do it if I could hold my pace. But now a strong wind was in my face. I pressed on in the drops, finding my breathing more labored than it has been in a while, a combination of working hard and being so out of shape with few miles in my legs recently.

As I came up on the intersection I saw a mini van approaching to make a left turn in front of me. I broke my own rule, but as I went through the ‘all-way’ stop sign I DID put my hand up and wave as if to say thanks for waiting. I actually was there first but by rights could have stopped. I didn’t want to throw away my chance at the record lap time. I know. Silly, right?

I pressed and after the final corner hit the tar strip that marked the end of the lap…clicked off the timer on my watch and looked down: 6:46. I did it! I broke 7:00 on lap four. I then took a cool-down lap and headed back home as black clouds loomed. In the end it never did rain. I would have been OK taking my normal longer route. But you know what? I kinda liked the timed lap thing just as a change of pace.

Season Miles: 532

This has been an unusual spring of training.

March was as warm as May and April was as cold as March. Now May has actually arrived and I finally got back on my bike today for the first time since April 14th. It’s not just the weather that has been strange.

My personal life has kept me off the bike as well. Between a death in the family, prepping a house we have lived in for 20 years to be sold and house hunting 100 miles away there has been little time to get serious about riding. I was on the fence about it today even though I had time in my schedule for a short ride.

No sunshine. 60 degrees with a cold wind, a good portion of it coming off the lake. I am so glad I grabbed a wind jacket at the last minute. I’m also glad I made the decision to ride. I usually am. I have found on questionable days that the more you hem and haw and debate it the more likely you are to just blow it off.

If you just get out the door nine times out of 10 when you are done you feel better about yourself and you know you made the right choice. Nothing fancy today. I am probably heavier and more out of shape than I have ever been at the start of May in my 12 years of riding. But the point is that I was out there.

One interesting note from the ride…At one point I was looking down at my computer and not watching the road ahead when suddenly I heard a noise off to my right. When I looked up I saw that there was a deer that had just made a run at me and decided to turn around and run the other way at the last minute. Good choice. Had the deer gone straight across the road I would have hit it. The thing was so close I could hear the hoofs grabbing in the grass to make the sharp turn to head the other way. That’ll get your HR up there in a hurry!

Season Miles: 514

It did feel rather odd leaving for a bike ride at four in the afternoon. I’m usually long finished with any riding by then. But I had to take care of a few things during the day Saturday and wasn’t even planning on riding at all. But when the list was cleared the sun was still out so I figured why not just get a short ride in for some exercise.

By the time I got to the halfway point I had already ridden into some dark clouds. Fearing rain was brewing fast, I rode the parkway portion back at a pretty good tempo, now having a tail to crosswind to help me as well.

The roads and paths were littered with bike riders of all shapes and sizes.

The only issue today remains my right knee of all things. Ever since my 41-mile ride earlier this week my knee has had issues for some reason. At random it seems, make a wrong move and it feels like someone stabbed me under my kneecap! It happened a couple of times on my ride today too which really scares you.

I’ll just give it some time and be careful. We’ll see where this goes, if anywhere.

SEASON MILES: 488

Thanks to the Milwaukee Brewers I was finally able to get back on my bike and enjoy simply putting some miles in out there for almost three hours by myself. I got 41 miles in because I had the time to invest. Brewers-Cubs on WHBY, so my afternoon PhilCast show starts much later and really doesn’t amount to much of a show. That opens the door to a rare longer weekday ride.

I bundled up with three layers on top and headed south on the Oak Leaf Trail. I actually ended up getting lost today for a time due to construction. I couldn’t take the usual roads of my St. Martens ride. Somehow I ended up on a busy street with very little room to ride on the side of the road. Luckily that didn’t last long and I ended up riding into St. Martens from the opposite direction that I would normally come in.

I took a break sitting in the sunshine outside “The Landmark” tavern there, where I gulped down a couple of granola bars that I had brought along. The sun felt fantastic. The wind was a bit chilly today with temps in the 50′s at the time I was riding.

On my way back I saw a first while riding on Sunny Slope. There in a yard was a giant pot-bellied pig on a leash! Like I said, that was a first!

I was glad that I was able to ride that distance today since I have not trained very much at all this spring. All in all a good, safe and fun weekday ride today.

SEASON MILES: 462

As my late grandma used to say, “Pardon my French.” But you know what? Some times that word is just the perfect description for some people. Such was the case today on my quick 26-mile ride.

Ironic that I should have a run-in with a driver on the very day after I interviewed the downtown Appleton police commander on my PhilCast show about cyclists and motorists getting along out there on the road.

It happened on my way back in as I was crossing Highway 100 (a very busy intersection). After waiting for the light to change I slowly rode out on my green light from a dead stop. I knew there was a vehicle in front of me from the other direction that was going to have to wait to make a left turn in front of me.

I missed clipping in my right foot on the first attempt so it took me a second try to clip in and then fully roll through to at least the island at the halfway point. Imagine my shock as this giant black pickup truck just turned left right behind me coming within inches I am sure from hitting my rear wheel. For effect the driver layed on the horn as he whizzed around me as well.

I threw up one arm and just turned my head toward the truck screaming, “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!” To no avail because I saw that the windows of the black truck were smoked a dark color as the driver nailed it and sped down the road.

Seriously…what? I mean you couldn’t wait to turn left for about 20 seconds more to let me get through LEGALLY? What a jackwagon this jerkoff must be.

It’s called karma pal. You’re an idiot, and I can only hope that you violently crash that ugly-ass, gas-guzzling monster of yours into the back of a semi and die slowly choking on your own blood.

Happy Easter ya tool.

Now, just to show that not all drivers are born stupid….a little later there was a van waiting to turn and he waited and gave me the wave-across. I waved a thanks back at him and rode through. See…was that so hard?

Honestly.

Season Miles: 421

32 miles in today and much of the focus was on the hills…well that and surviving a gusting wind out of the northwest. On the way out I kept saying to myself, “This isn’t good,” every time it got quiet and easy to pedal. Tailwind, meaning I was gonna be blasted with 15-25 mph wind in the face at times on the way back.

To break up my south/north route I decided to check out the progress on the crab apple trees in Whitnall Park where I did three laps on the crit course. Then before exiting the park I decided to go ahead and add the climb up Barn Hill for no other reason than it was there and I needed to push a little bit more out of the saddle.

The trees by the way are already starting, but the best is yet to come in a few weeks I would guess.

Although it was mostly cloudy and cool with the wind (55 degrees at start) there was a stretch on Root River Parkway where the street was lined with big trees loaded with white buds. When the sun broke out there it was a beautiful sight. I was reminded of my father-in-law Bob who spent the night in intensive care fighting to come back from issues after neck surgery to add a few more years to his 86 on this Earth….reminded that each day I am well enough to be out there riding is a blessing and not to ever be taken for granted.

The old magnet from my 4th-string bike that I put onto the Roubaix’s real wheel worked fine and it sure was nice to have a fully-functioning computer on my bike again.

Also nice today…maiden voyage with a new pair of bibs. I’ve been riding in most of mine for 4-5 seasons now and it’s time to get myself into a new pair or two. These are Team Movistar from Nalini….no ties to the team….just the fact that any time you can find team bibs in your size on line for $56.00 that’s a great deal. And they felt great too.

SEASON MILES: 395

Today on my PhilCast show we welcome a new sponsor, Recyclist in Kaukauna and Gear ‘N Up in Neenah. We’re proud to be teamed up with Randy and his staff at both locations. Read more and see and hear the making of a radio ad by simply CLICKING HERE.

Funny what a difference a week can make. One week ago last weekend was all about riding, with a 41-mile group ride on St. Pat’s day Saturday followed up with a 45-mile ‘hot dog’ ride with Der Jan on Sunday.

This weekend the weather just didn’t cooperate on Saturday. Then today, Sunday, it certainly is nice enough for a cool spring ride. Yet after making some buttermilk banana pancakes at about noon I decided to burn them off doing much-needed yard work instead of going for a ride.

When you have houses/yards to maintain the spring time can be a real juggling act between the joys of home ownership and the joys of just putting some miles in on the bike.

As it turns out, the lawn really did need this cutting. The gardens are next. I’m on a break now!

Then if the weather holds next weekend it will be time to do it all again at our weekend place. Maybe at some point in-between there I’ll be able to get a ride or two in.

At least it appears that I was able to take an old magnet off a spoke on my old Navigator and place that on my Roubaix so that my computer will once again log miles and distance. (see earlier post for how/when I lost the original) I spun the wheel around and the computer registered right away.

Monday we begin a new ad campaign for Recyclist and Gear ‘N Up on the PhilCast. I’ll be linking up a video of the making of the ads here tomorrow.