Saturday Drizzle

The drizzle and threat of heavier rain didn't keep 8 off their bikes this morning including a rider new to the group, former Loon State rider Jonathan Sanborn. Jonathan's been keeping himself busy with cross country skiing, competitive canoeing and triathlons. He knows Amy and Melinda quite well from XC skiing teams and if I remember my facts correctly took over the high school XC skiing coaching position after Melinda left. Well, the past 10 years of cross training didn't seem to dent his cycling performance one bit. I prepped him on super prime after we turned onto pineview. He attacked the first hill hard and the rest of us watched him go thinking that we'll catch him back up or would we...he did look pretty strong today. After we crested the first hill onto the false flat Jon had a good 100 meters on us. We looked at each other trying to work out if it looked like he could hold the gap and that answered the question for a couple of chasers. We lit it up across the open space and saw Jon looking around. Ahh...finally some weakness! I clicked it all the way up and started my sprint, caught up and passed Jon just before super prime (chalk another one up for TSH!).

The 9am ride kept all but two riders from the 7am. Six of us rode downtown to see the bridge collapse and pay our respects. I was feeling good so I pulled the train into a fairly stiff headwind all the way downtown (the same kind of thing that gave me the nickname "B Train" with Ride2Eat). The stone arch bridge is closed but we were able to see some of the wreckage along with the rest of the 100 or so people congregating there. The sight was surreal. You'd be hard pressed to find any twin cities resident who wasn't affected by the tragedy in one way or another. Jorge and Camy were jonesing for a Dunn Bros. coffee so we headed over and sat outside in the drizzle soaking up the beautiful weather.

Jon also got his first century in in the past 10 years by riding the 7am, 9am rides and riding in from his house! Well done!

The women of Trailhead

Keep getting stronger!

I had the opportunity to ride with the Trailhead group and new comer Melissa on Tuesday for the first time since "the crash". Melissa isn't some newbie rider but is apparently an accomplished track racer. And strong!!! She followed every break and lead Brian and I up to super prime like a run away freight train. Brian and I barely got around her to sprint for the sign (chalk another up for Team Strong Heart :-). Is it time for Trailhead to sponsor a women's racing team??? I think so!

Thanks to Trailhead and all the riders for making this the best group ride in the Twin Cities!

Got out for a Thursday ride in Elm Creek...couple of laps mulling over the details of the Elm Creek 150 that Neil and I have been chewing on for quite a while.

Look for a 10 lap, 150 mile ride coming up soon at Elm Creek and also the Elm Creek 500! A two month challenge to get in 34 laps on Elm Creek's 15 mile outer loop that'll start with the EC 150. It's an effort to promote trail use on Elm Creeks FANTASTIC trail system.

START THE BUZZ!