Two Wheel Blogs

Route: Marine Loop, but in reverse direction
Time: 1:56
Miles: 33.3
Pace: 17.1

Riding Tunes: The Jayhawks, MUSIC FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY. (This is my current musical crush.)

In rereading some of my previous posts, I've noticed that it takes me almost as long to write about my rides as it took me to actually ride them. That's messed up. So I'll keep this one short, sweet, and to the point. To the best of my abilities.

Last Sunday, I'd intended to go for long ride. How long depended on the weather. A little more than two hours in the ride, I found myself leaning next to a farm's outbuilding, a futile attempt to seek shelter from the storm, and calling my wife to come pick me up. This Sunday, as I rolled by Staunton Road, where last Sunday's ride ended, I thought "The difference a week makes."

We decided to go see the new HARRY POTTER movie that afternoon. Showtime was 4:40, which meant I had to be home by 4:00, ready to shower, change, and get to the theater in time. This meant I had two hours to ride. That's an automatic Marine Loop. Based on wind direction, I figured it would be to my advantage to ride it opposite the direction I normally ride.

On Friday and Saturday, I had done two 45-mile rides at a 16+ mph pace that took about three hours each, so a shorter ride was fine with me -- especially if I could do it a little faster. I rolled down the Goshen Trail, then took an alternate route, one that involved few climbs. Nothing too challenging, but climbs I would have avoided if I'd taken the usual route. The climbs behind me, I rolled down Lower Marine Road to Marine Road, where I turned north and headed through Marine towards Fruit Road. The southerly wind made this stretch a pleasure to ride. That and the music of The Jayhawks on my iPod.

I'll admit it. I first heard them when they had a minor radio hit with beautiful "Blue." At that time, I listened to and liked their HOLLYWOOD TOWNHALL and TOMORROW THE GREEN GRASS. But I lost touch with them after Mark Olson left the band, and in doing so, I missed a lot of great music. The new compilation, MUSIC FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY, reminds me just how good they were, how perfectly they melded their love of country music with their solid rock & roll chops and their knack for crafting pop gems. To call them the perfect fusion of The Everly Brothers and The Flying Burrito Brothers is too simplistic, but if you don't know the band I'm talking about, the analogy will have to do. Here's to The Jayhawks!

Once of Fruit, I continued to roll toward home, this time flanked by the wind. Remembering last week's rain-shortened ride, I was happy to be rolling by the Staunton Road sign instead of seeing it through a car window. After that, I was back on Quercus Grove Trail, then on the Edwardsville city streets, and then back in my own drive. The 17.1 mph was faster than the 16's I'd ridden the two previous days, so that was acceptable. Most important, I was home at 4:00 p.m. exactly. One shower and a change of clothes later, and we were off to see HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE.

All in all, a good day.