Its Done. No Really It Is!

Nothing motivates like having a deadline. That deadline being my work party last Sunday. I knew if I had everyone over this summer I would be forced to get my patio done. I was slated to have it done a week ago but due to the non stopping rain storms the project came right down to the wire. After working non stop all weekend I completed the patio with just a few hours to spare. About enough time to finish all the other chores around the house.

The party itself was a blast, with the large backyard we where able to let all the children run around like mad while the adults hung out around the firepit. However as Dan would say, even though I had a party it is still a virgin until we get that fire going! So stayed tuned for actual action shots ;)

I can feel the weight dripping off

I must say how much I love this hot weather :) Tonight I decided to ride with a local group in town to get some miles in. Of course the local group consisted of Brad and I. I know big group, guess the rest of the guys where scared away by a little heat. Well Brad an I decided on a nice 30 mile loop around Baraboo. It was the first time on a number of these roads for me and I got my first taste of longer hills both going up and down. The pinnacle of the ride consisted of my first 5 mile hill.

The first 3 miles where pretty easy with a 2 or 3% grade, however the last couple miles finished with an average 5%. Not necessarily the steepest yet but I could definitely feel the workout at that point. After a few more miles we hit the down slope which near the end was considerably more steep, I was riding the brakes hard to keep it below 50 mph. The scary part was it felt so steep that I had to keep scooting my butt back on my seat because I swore my body felt like it wanted to go over the handle bars.

The rest of the ride into home was pretty flat and we meet up with two other bikers, which was kind of novel in my mind for being in the middle of the country. I always find it neat that there are more people out there who like to punish their bodies as well. Who knew :)

MS 150 Bike Ride

This last weekend I participated in my 4th MS 150 bike ride. The course seems to change some from year to year but a couple things remained constant. The ride offers three ride lengths (60,75,100) and runs Waukesha to White Water on Saturday then White Water to Madison on Sunday.

My intension for this weekend was to use the ride as training for the lotoja in September. However after my knee surgery I was somewhat worried about how well this weekend would go, especially with my original plan of two back to back centuries.

A few days before my ride I found out there where about 20 people from Baraboo who where on the same team as I was. I had just enough time to meet and plan on car pooling into Madison with some of them. Between car pooling and the bus ride to Milwaukee I was able to get to know Tim, Bill, and Kay better.

Over the weekend our small group ended up being a great pairing. It seemed that each of us peeked at different times, which in turn motivated the rest of us to pick up the speed to keep up. The first day we did the full century and I was feeling great until the 85 mile mark. It was about that point, after racing up a hill, that I realized my tank was about on empty. We finished up as a group without any major troubles other than feeling a little tired in the energy department.

Sunday we set out to try another century, however the organizers had other ideas. That morning a thunderstorm had come through and it looked like there was a second storm front coming in. They decided to shut down the century and urge everyone to do the 60 mile option so they could clear the course as soon as possible. All of us agreed that if they where taking away our century they sure as heck where not going to stop us from doing the 75.

The storm never hit, however after a long ride in the hot weather I can say it was probably a good thing we only did the 75. After our last stop my body had decided it was shot, and I had to spin up hills instead of going my normal pace. We finished out the ride to the cheers of the crowd. As a special treat to everyone our group of four stopped about 10 feet from the finish line, jumped off our bikes and ran through carrying them on our shoulders. Though we got plenty of cheers and laughs we decided that our bikes had done such a great job carrying us for 175 miles that the least we could do was carry them for the last 10 feet.

The high point for me on the ride was crossing the finish line knowing Shannon and the kids where there to cheer me through. Now to keep the momentum going for September and my biggest ride yet.