Two Wheel Blogs

Saturday's team ride was a little earlier than my schedule could accomodate, so I was left to ride solo around midday. I knew I needed to get at least 2 good hours in and also knew that my ride should include some good hill climbs. That made the decision quite simple, go west young man, go west. That I did and headed west on Clayton into the secret training grounds.

My list of climbs (in order) were:
- Orrville (South to North)
- Old Eatherton
- Ossenfort
- The Melrose twins
- Hawks Rest Drive
- Gredan Drive

Eventhough I was out for the purposes of gauging my fitness on the climbs, I also wanted to see how well my tempo power felt in the flats and the rollers. The best span of which was Wild Horse Creek. I rode that section well, but my mind seemed to wonder towards the upcoming TT's at Hermann and Tour of St Louis. The question I kept having was how would I squeeze out the speed while not hitting my head on the walls of the pain cave? I was getting into such a focus I decided to practice a few TT turnarounds on WHC and get a sense for just how 'hot' I could come into a turn without wiping out. Something tells me it's a little easier on the road bike versus the TT rig.

Nevertheless, I felt great and pushed onward. In total, I climbed 2300' over the course of 39 miles and finished in just a hair outside of 2 hours. My final destination was my sister-in-law's house wherein I replenished my system with a nice lunch and nice slice of birthday cake. All in all, a good ride and one where it just seemed to fall into place. I'll put in a solid training week before Hermann and hope for a break in the weather to put in a good TT effort.