Early morning adventures

Given the opportunity, I'd work out every morning before doing whatever it is I need to do that day. The air is a bit cooler, the roads quieter. A bowl of cereal, a cup of coffee ... or two ... and I'm off.

Today's adventure was an easy two hours or so. I had planned on a lap or two at Tranquility on the Cronus CX, but it was pretty soft. So I meandered out of the neighborhoods and out into the country for a bit. Since I didn't have a ton of time (the Tour's on, you know?), I kept it pretty simple: out on Ida, back on Fort. It's all rollers, so I tried to keep the tempo high and sprint up and over the top.

The Cronus, by the way, is more awesome every time I ride it. Coupled with the fairly new Shimano M315 shoes, it made for a nice ride. (Check out the text on that Shimano link, by the way: Designed for professional athletes and other prodigious riders. Pretty sure I'm neither of those, but man, those are nice shoes.)

On Saturday, I rolled out a bit earlier — a little before 6 — and headed down to Jones Bros., to rendezvous with the rest of the group. Mike, Jeremy, Brady, Kevin, Chris and other Chris and I headed north. We wound our way up through Fort Calhoun to Blair, then back down south through the hills.

After that, we headed west toward Elk City, down to Waterloo for a bottle refill and a snack and then back to midtown. When I finally rolled back up the driveway, my computer looked like this:

And that, folks, is a new league record. Additionally, it was really only the second century I've ridden. I've been awfully close a few times — 90-some miles — but I really don't leave the house thinking, "I'm going to ride 100 miles today." It's just a number, really.

On Saturday, it was more about having the time and energy to keep going, even though we were about a half-mile from my house at one point. Had I been able to keep going — as in, if I had more time — a Gatorade and a candy bar would have been all I needed. I felt great. That said, Brady and Spence had pretty much turned off the gas by the time I hit that point. There were moments before then where I was cross-eyed.

You get that, though, when you ride with guys like that. But it'll only make you stronger eventually. That may well be coming soon.