Two Wheel Blogs

Steve O'Neal emailed me to say he was doing the Mueller Road ride tonight, but he was planning to roll out ahead of the fast pack. I had to reply that, as much as I would like to, I would not be joining him, for two reasons.

First, my rib muscles are still sore from last week's wreck. I would have to ride hard to keep up with Steve, and I don't think I'm ready to ride that hard yet.

Second, tonight is my son's last night at home before going back to college tomorrow. I have to work, so my wife is taking him to school. So I thought I should get home earlier than the Mueller ride would permit.

So I headed home after work, arriving there later than I had intended on account of a 4:00 meeting that ran long. I planned to do the original Belk Park Loop, as that would take me about an hour. I set out about 6:30 p.m. I found the wind was coming from the west, maybe northwest. This meant I would have to work to get to and through the park, but once I made the right turn onto Buchta, I should get a nice little push all the way home.

I made pretty good time to the park, then found my pace quicken as I headed down Buchta to Moreland. Thanks to the tailwind, riding the Moreland stretch was easy. I pushed hard down the Watershed Trail, hoping to break the 60-minute mark. But despite my efforts, I finished in one hour exactly.