Windy

I decided to brave the wind and went out for a solo ride Monday afternoon. The temps were nice, but the wind was tough. It's hard to keep your mind in it when you are working hard in your small front ring going downhill. What a difference after turning around at Sprague and heading through Roca. I hit 40 mph for the first time in a couple of years coming down the hill on 54th street by the quarry (the older photo Adrian referred to on Facebook was actually 44.1 mph - still my highest max speed, and was from 2007).

Monday night I played my only Monday Night Big Band gig for this month - Loup Garou came on down to listen and hang out. Always more enjoyable to play with friends out there.

Today I may go ahead and try the Bike Pedalers ride - it's going to be windy and I will need to be sucking wheel like these two:

Spring Break is Here!

Spring break has arrived and I'm ready to get caught up with my riding and playing. Tonight I'll be leading the Monday Night Big Band down at Brewsky's (as featured in the recent edition of L Magazine) should be a great night to ride down and listen! Kew - bring your guitar, it's only $3 cover if you bring an instrument to sit in :)

The rest of the week is going to be taken up with riding and practicing. I have to get both my legs and my chops in shape, as I have not been riding much, and I have a big performance on April 13 with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra. Hope to see some of you out enjoying the nice weather this week!

Evening Rides Starting?

I need the evening rides to start to motivate me to get out and ride - I'm having trouble shedding the hibernation weight and need a kick in the butt to get moving. I'm going to try the new Bike Pedalers no drop ride tonight (I called and they said they will start tonight), and I'll show up at the bench tomorrow as well. I haven't heard any official word on starting date for the teamFIRE ride, but it is supposed to be nice (mid 50s, light wind from the SW), and it only seems right to have a green jersey ride on St. Patrick's Day. Depending on whether anyone shows, we may have to stop afterwards for the traditional adult beverage.

Here's the info on some of the rides I am aware of that are not racer-oriented:

Monday, 6:00 p.m. - JoyRide Chit Chat Ride
Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. - Bike Pedalers No Drop Ride
Wednesday, 5:45* p.m. - teamFIRE No Rider Left Behind Ride
Thursday, 5:30 p.m. - Bike Pedalers No Drop Ride
Thursday, 5:45 p.m.* - teamFIRE off-road ride
Saturday, 1:00 p.m. - Bike Pedalers No Drop Ride

* start at the 27th and Highway 2 bench - time will change to 6 p.m. later in the year

The Great Plains Cycling Club also has rides at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday leaving from the bench - they start next week.

Does anybody know if Bike Rack still has a Monday night ride?

Anybody gonna come out with me on Wednesday???

Russian Singer on Star Trek

Everybody has probably seen that video of that Russian singer - but did you know he was also a guest star on Star Trek?

Weird - but funny :)

First Group Ride

Got a call from da Term on Saturday to meet up with some other folks at the Y for an afternoon ride - my first group ride this spring. I think there were nine of us, some familiar (da Term, Gravy, KimC, Richard, Steve) and some faces that were new to me. We headed south into a pretty brisk breeze, regrouped at Sprague road, and were enjoying ourselves and the nice temps enough that we decided to head out to Cortland. Unfortunately, right after we got to Cortland the wind shifted to the west and was a crosswind instead of the tailwind we were looking forward to having.

We made our usual stop at the gas station for refueling:

After grabbing a snack or a drink there (thanks for the Snickers, KimC), we headed over to the brewery.

Janna loved the samples so much she decided to bring some home :).

It was a lot of fun riding in a group again - looking forward to the increasingly warm weather and the opportunity to get out more. Word in the group was that Bike Pedalers will be starting up some no-drop rides on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, so stay tuned for more info regarding those rides.

Also, I got a notice today that TdN is almost full, so if you were thinking of going, now is the time to get registered.

See you on the road (or gravel)!

FAC

Let's find out where Tinkerbell's been hiding all winter. FAC meet at Yia Yia's after work (5 for me), then head down to art walk if your into that sort of thing.

Let's Try Again

It is supposed to be 47 with a 10 mph wind out of the west on Saturday.  I am going to be in Kansas all day Friday, and won't get back until 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning, so I'm going to need some people to come along to keep me motivated.  Anybody up for an afternoon ride, say about 1 p.m., out to Bluestem (or out to Kramer if we get ambitious)?