Weekend update

With the holiday on Wednesday and a hectic schedule I wasn't able to get out until Friday. I met Nate and Pears for some mileage at Luton.

The weather was gorgeous on Friday. Warm, but not hot. I was feeling pretty good and I decided to attack the first climb. I stood and mashed, taking the first climb in a good clip. We pushed on, and I was feeling better the further we went. I guess there is something to be said for resting for a week between rides. ha.

I know I was feeling better because we were putting a gap on Pears. We would attack a section and then wait for her before going and attacking the next section. On the Black loop I was feeling it and took off riding about as hard as I could. Nate stuck with me (for obvious reasons) but I did give him a peek at what I am actually capable of. I heard him say "keep going man, keep going". I felt fast as hell until I had to slow down and recover. It just felt good that I can actually go fast, even if for a short period of time.

Nate and I headed out for another lap and I felt good again. I was pushing the downhills as much as I could and riding strong on the sections between. Actually set a PR on "all loops" so that means I am getting stronger. I will take it. One thing to show I was moving faster was the descent after the orange loop. You can get some serious speed down that hill and there is a right hand bender at the bottom. I knew I would have to commit so I dove into the corner letting my shoulder brush the branches on the inside of the turn. As soon as I hit the dark gravel I could feel the bike start to break loose. I was prepared for it so it was a controlled slide, but a slide around the corner is something that I don't generally do...simply because I don't have the speed. Felt good. We finished up with dinner at Perrin Brewing Company and then made the long drive home.

Saturday my oldest wanted to ride, so I took out Albert for a spin. The D.U.F.F. has a few broken spokes so the fatty needed to be dusted off. We just did a little tooling around the woods and that was enough, I had a long ride planned for Sunday.

Sunday I loaded up Albert and headed to Kal-Haven. I wanted to do 50-60 miles as a tune-up for the Holland 100 on this coming Saturday. When I reached 20 miles I knew that number would be 50. A 38 pound fat bike under constant pedaling becomes very heavy. Mentally I checked out because I was riding alone and was already getting tired from the previous two days worth of miles. I hit my 25.2 miles and turned right around, knowing that the rest of the ride was going to be tough. I pushed on and eventually made it to Bloomingdale where I stopped to refuel with a banana and some water. Then I rode the last 18 miles back. I didn't have anyone pass me until about 10 to go. They passed me like I was sitting still and made it clear they didn't want any company. I kept them in sight thru Gobles before the turned off to their car. I slowly inched my way back toward Kalamazoo and eventually arrived at the parking lot. 50.5 miles on a tank of a fatty. Awesome way to start a Sunday.

Next up is Holland 100. We are leaving at 7am with a few people that have never done a century before. I can't wait to see how awesome they feel when they accomplish this goal!