Two Wheel Blogs

I was going to ride Mueller Road with Steve O'Neal tonight. But when I got to work, he emailed me that his sister just had a baby (Congrats, uncle Steve!) and he was on his was up to Decatur to visit them. I could have ridden Mueller without him, but decided not to.

For one reason, I've decided to run the Cross Country Kickoff in Forest Park next Saturday. (Normally, I would not race on two consecutive Saturdays, but cross country races are hard to come by, so this time I'm making an exception). So a hard ride on Mueller Road, even without Steve-o to pull my tired a** around it, would probably be more of a workout than I need tonight. For another, if I went home and did the Belk Park loop, I'd be done around 7:00 -- instead of in the middle of the ride as I am at Mueller -- and I'd be home when I'd finished. I liked the math, so Belk Park it was, the old route.

Despite a day of rest, my legs were still a little tired from Saturday's race and ride to Litchfield. So I didn't push it as I went out. I couldn't tell which way the wind was blowing, but I noticed I was rolling near 20 mph without too much effort, so I figured it must have been behind me. I got to the park in what felt like pretty good time, but I expected the wind to turn against me when I turned onto Buchta. But it didn't. I kept my pace up, then turned south on Moreland, again expecting the wind to stand me up. An again, the wind was a no show. Perhaps the wind was not strong enough to be a factor. As I rolled to a stop at the intersection with 143, I checked my time: 39:00. "Hey," I thought, "I've got a pretty good ride going."

So I picked up my pace as I turned onto the Watershed Trail and I worked it all the way to Union. Unfortunately, due to construction where the trail meets Union, I had to give up speed to negotiate the barriers. It cost me a few seconds, but not a major hit. I pumped my way up the Union Street hill, then sprinted for home. I came in at 58:30, the first time I've been under an hour for the original route for a while. That was a good result, especially as I didn't set out to go under an hour.

With my eye on the Cross Country Kickoff on Saturday, the rest of the week shakes out like this:

• Tuesday: A short run on the Nickel Plate, maybe 3 miles. (I'm not going to get any faster between now and Saturday.)
• Wednesday: I should do the Chesterfield Valley ride, but I'm thinking I'll ride from home again. I need an early evening more than I need a hard ride.
• Thursday: Another short run, again, no more than 3 miles.
• Friday: Rest.
• Saturday: Race