Last night I received a text message from two people who were supposed to ride with me this morning, they were wimping out because it was going to be cold! Seriously! We are riding to raise money for people who at times cannot even walk and you want to quit because it's going to be cold? I couldn't believe it. Anyway, OK. Fine. Wimp out. I'm still riding.
At about 0630 this morning I received a text message from another person who was supposed to ride with me, she didn't get a good night sleep! Come on people! Whatever. I'm still riding.
People can be so disappointing at times, I think I'll stick with my dogs, they always want to play. They don't care if it's cold, rainy, windy, hot, dry, they still want to go to the park and play.
I was up around 0600, got a load of laundry in the washer, fed the dogs, grabbed a bite to eat and made decisions on what to wear.
I checked the temperature at 0730; a balmy 33 degrees with 85% chance of precipitation. I went back and forth trying to decide on which bike to ride, I finally decided at the last minute to take my road bike instead of the mountain bike. The saddle on my road bike is much more comfortable than the mountain bike and with 30 miles of riding ahead of me I opted for comfort.
I tossed on a pair of biking shorts, tights and my Endura cargo pants just in case it started to rain. A couple shirts, water resistant jacket and my Sugoi vest. I was out the door around 0745, it was a little chilly to start out but by the time I got to Aldrich Arena to check in I was warm. I received my riders packet, grabbed a chocolate donut and a cup of coffee. Once I was finish with my snack I hit the road, by the time I got to the snowman in North St. Paul I was toasty warm.
I was going to blow through the first rest stop but my bike developed a squeak and it was driving me crazy, I was also having some shifting issues. I could only use a couple gears and if I went out of the middle ring the chain kept jumping. I pulled into the first rest area and went to see the bike mechanic. He added some lube to the pulleys on the back derailleur and that stopped the squeak. He then made some adjustments to my front derailleur to fix the shifting issue.
I left the first rest area and discovered that the adjustment made my shifting worse. Now I'm limited to the big ring and only one gear. Bummer! Oh well, the next thing I knew I was at the halfway mark. The sun was out and I had a tailwind when I hit the hills on Norell Ave. That was a great help, the hills would have been a lot worse without the tailwind.
A right turn on Dellwood and I was heading back to the Gateway trail. In no time I was at the last rest stop and on my way to the finish line. The sun was shinning and I was actually breaking a sweat. Riding in the big ring with only one gear makes for a great workout. When you can work up a sweat at 35 degrees you know you're burning fat!!! YAY, I have plenty of fat to burn.
I crossed the finish line, stopped to pick up my t-shirt, a slice of pizza and another cup of coffee. It was a great morning for a ride. Yes, it was cold outside and yes, the wind was blowing a little bit but I was dressed for it and had a great ride. I did not get cold at all, the tailwind saved me on the hills so when it became a crosswind for a couple miles I did not mind. The Gateway trail is pretty well protected so while riding on the trail I didn't have any wind issues. The only thing I would have changed is that I would have taken my mountain bike instead of the road bike, I would have had more than one gear :)
I have another ride planned for tomorrow evening; a couple friends are meeting me at my place and we'll ride from here. I need to plan a route; so for now, Happy Trails!
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