60 Grit Wet/Dry

…And it rained for forty days and for forty nights. OK, so maybe it only rained for 3 days, but the result was much the same. I haven’t seen this many Chicago land reporters in galoshes since they accidentally punched a hole in the bottom of the Chicago River and the salmon were swimming in the lingerie department at Marshal Fields. It all kind of made for a crappy weekend. I had high hopes for the trainer this year, but even with a movie, an hour, maybe an hour and a half at the most, is about all I can manage. Oh well, I have other plans for off season training too.

The Warden was cool and did some fast talking that got me out of the house and out on the road. I love getting Son#1 out on the bike and all, but I haven’t been on and actual outdoor ride in over a week. I’ll make sure tomorrow's ride with him is a good one.

It was actually kind of chilly tonight, and the flooded cornfield and pastures are already starting to reek. Last year the pumpkin field I pass on my way to work flooded, and in the 90 degree temps that fall, it was nauseating. I will never ever eat pumpkin pie again; I could barely managed to carve the Jack ’o’ Lantern last fall. Anyway, I only did 20 miles, and my 16 mph average is very misleading. It was a rough 20, I went out to Keslinger and rode up and down a hill about half a dozen times till I felt the vomit start trying to escape, then headed back home into the wind, all on my single speed.

Fall is definitely coming, and there is lots of stuff on the horizon. We got trips to the Pumpkin Farm for my annual camel ride with Son#1, the Pumpkin train down in Waterman, the Bonfire Chas and I throw every year, we even made some beer for it this year, it should be a good time. I am contemplating kicking it all off with this:


I am hesitant to commit to this. I find it hard to get all excited about riding a race I know I can’t win. Not only can I not win, I am fairly certain I would place last, unless somebody falls and breaks an arm or something. And I don’t mean I’ll probably place last in the I am trying to be humble kind of sense. I mean it in the cold hard facts of the real world and laws of physics sense. I am still pretty hefty. Compared to other bikers, especially ones who have been training for this sort of thing, I am a frick’n hippopotamus. Second there is hardware. I technically do have a cross bike, but it is a single speed, and it ain’t exactly high end. Then there is the whole jumping over barrier thingies with your bike over your shoulder. I sure will look silly when I case it and face plant, thus embedding my so/so cross bike into my back. Notice I said when, not if. The real scare factor comes from the fact that Joel says cross racing is just absolute brutal torture, and he’s probably forgotten more about brutal torture than I ever hope to learn. Aaron broke his collar bone on his first race. I do have my delicate liver to consider.

We’ll see. (You can ask Steve what that means)