Two Wheel Blogs

August 31st -- it sounds so final. Tomorrow is September 1st. Right around the corner is the Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end of summer. This is not the time to look back, to flip through the summer like an old magazine, looking at the pictures but skipping the stories. No, this is not the time for that. As one season transitions to another, now is the time to look ahead to the fall and all that it holds in store. But before I bid a final farewell to summer and all its pleasures, I will reflect on the last two rides I did while it was still August.

Mon 8.28 ~ Mueller Road

This was the first good, hard ride I've had in a long time.

The last time I did the Mueller Road ride was August 2nd, and that night I got dropped early and ended up pulling for another rider who couldn't do more than 16 mph. Due to my recent spate of accidents, I've not been able to ride it since then. But my bike's been fixed and my ribs are feeling better, so I decided to ride tonight. And I'm glad I did.

Steve O'Neal was there, so I knew I was in for a good workout. We rolled out with a group who will be doing the Ride MS in a couple of weeks, including James and Amy Alferman and a few others. We would fight a strong wind out of the south all evening. To keep the group together, we kept the pace down initially. That was fine with me. All the riding I've done this month has been on my own, so I've not ridden hard or with a group for a long time. As we approached an intersection, there was a slight mishap. (I, fortunately, was not involved.) While coming to a stop, James got his bike caught up with that of the lead rider, who had not properly indicated that he was stopping.

After we resumed, Steve confided that he wasn't comfortable with the abilities of a couple of the riders. He didn't think they understood how to ride a pace line properly, as evidenced by the mishap at the intersection. He didn't want to drop the group, but he also didn't want to end up in an accident. I allowed that we could hang back for a while to see how things develop, but that if he wanted to drop the group, I'd go with him.

We rode at the back of the pack. Once we were on Portage Road, it was my turn to pull. I picked up the pace slightly for awhile, but was asked to back it down for the benefit of the others. As we turned left off Portage, we turned into the wind. As it so happens, it was Steve's turn to pull, which was timely because he and James are the strongest riders in the group. I started to drop back to take my place at the rear, but only one rider bridged up to get on Steve's wheel. Seeing a gap, I inserted myself so I was third in line. Steve had us rolling at a 19 mph pace -- into the wind - but the second rider couldn't hang on and started to drop back. I seized the opportunity and bridged up to Steve's rear wheel. "We're a breakaway of two," I yelled to him. And we never looked back.

Steve pulled us up to the next right, where I took over. We took turns the rest of the way, just as we'd done earlier in the summer. We ovetook a couple sets of riders. When we passed one pair, they asked if they could join us. Steve said "Fine," and they fell in line. As we neared NewTown, Steve and I went straight while they turned off. We pushed it as hard as we could the rest of the way. Finally, we made the last right turn onto Mueller Road, and when we did, we got the wind at our back. We rolled back into the parking lot having covered the 30 miles in just over 90 minutes. According to my CatEye, our average pace was 19.5 mph. It would have been nice to break 20 mph, but we can shoot for that the next time we ride it.

Tues 8.31 ~ Neighborhood Hills

When I got home from work, I hit the Nickel Plate for the 3.5-mile run my schedule calls for. It was a hot one, with temperatures near 90. Fortunately, there was a breeze, and it was over in a half hour. After that, I suited up and went for a ride.

I figured I had about an hour to ride, but I didn't feel like doing the Belk Park loop. So I decided to ride out to SIUE, hitting every hill I could find. So I climbed Union, then the 157 hill up to the SIUE campus, then a couple of service roads off the bike trail, and finally, Whitesides. Normally, I'd do repeats on Whitesides, but after tonight's run, one was enough.

I took the bike trail to Bluff Road, then climbed the New Poag Road hill, which brought me back into town. I did Union once more, then climbed the M Street hill that runs paralle to the street I live on. Finally, I climbed Locust. It may be small, but it's might. It's not that the elevation is so high. Rather, it's just a short, steep climb, made worse by the fact that you have to turn left to start it, so you carry almost no speed into it. At least, I don't. Once I got to the top, I was climbed out. I was ready to roll home and call it a night.

Next Up

• Wednesday: Tomorrow's schedule calls for 6 x 400s.
• Thursday: Cyclocross practice at SIUE. I saw some local riders out on the course last week, and they invited me to join them.
• Friday: Rest. I'm not doing anything.
• Saturday: First, we watch my son run a cross country meet in Forest Park. Then we hustle over to Granite City for what's left of the Invitational. I hope to get there in time to run the open race.
• Sunday: 7-mile run.

Long-term, I've got my sights set on the St. Louis half marathon in November. Before that, my immediate goal is September 18th. That morning, I plan to run the open race at the Edwardsville Invitational on the SIUE course. After that, I hope to head Hermann for the Hermann Under The Lights cyclocross races. That could be a fun day. It's what I'm looking forward to.