Taking Chicago's name

We're taking Chicago's name from them! Little Rock/North Little Rock is now the windy city.

The river was so wild you couldn't which way out was flowing sometimes. There were white caps this afternoon. Crazy stuff!

OK, here we go... got up and hit the road at 7 on Saturday. It was cold but not too bad. Made a couple of loops and then tried to hit the Carti ride but they had already left. I rode to Scott and back. Just as I was getting back into NLR the A group from that ride appeared behind me. Nice to hang with JBar for a moment. There are always super nice folks doing their training rides.

After we go back to the parking lot I slipped in to talk to Dave over at River Trail Bike Rentals. We used to work together years and years ago. Great guy and really funny. Nothing's changed. That was my first break (about 10am). Stayed just a few minutes then rolled out again. Mike Spain, another guy I used to work with at a different company years and years ago rode along with me a tad. He had been in the Carti ride.

Made another loop and stopped by my office and mixed some Hammer HEED. Great stuff!! I had FRS on the bike but like Heed a lot better. Just stayed long enough to mix and go. Gee seems like the wind is picking up a little. Oh well...

Did another loop and yes, the wind is picking up and it's not funny at all. I have hours still left to crank out. Coach Cooper has me down for 12 hours of riding today and 6 tomorrow and this wind is gonna make me crazy.

At 2 I finally stopped and open the back hatch and sat there eating a cinnamon bagel. JohnEEE came by on his way to his van. "Donut?" I just laughed and said, no worse, sugary cinnamon bagel. He was shaking his head at the wind too. It was really picking up.

Another lap. This is getting completely insane but I have to keep going.

I run into Charlie Hight by the BDB. Super guy and great supporter. He'll do anything for anyone, almost. We part ways and I decide to stay on the NLR side and go up and down.
I hang it up at 5. Should have gone to 7 as planned but with that wind it was killing me. I got over a century of riding. 127 miles to be exact.

Sunday -- Today. Got out of class and it was raining. Oh no! But by the time church was over it was sunny and it had that great water steaming off the street smell. Terri and Em and I headed over to Jason's Deli and I had a turkey wrap. Good stuff.

On the bike a little after 1 and let me tell you. The wind yesterday was kid's play compared to this afternoon. I kept waiting for the wicked witch of the west to go floating by on her bicycle. I watched a 55 gallon barrel full of trash blow over and then the wind rolled it fast. All the trash was coming out and blowing down the road. Saw one of those stretch canvas type billboard blow off. I cranked it out. Going from the arena to the BDB was some of the hardest riding I have done. Serious, the gust were so hard that I looked down once to see 4mph. Even the cities strong riders were fighting it. I really felt bad for folks like families who started at the BDB and was pushed along having a grand time only to have to fight their way back. I saw a LOT of people simply pushing their bikes. The last time back to the arena was tailwind. The other times I played it safe and rode easy back because I knew I would need the energy to fight my way back up the trail. But like I said... the last time I wanted to play... hard. I was riding easy on the trail since there were families around. Some cat came smoking by and I mean s.m.o.k.i.n.g!! I wanted to chase but nah, not on the trail. We got to the police clubhouse where it becomes road again and safe to cut loose and I gunned it (finally). I see the guy up ahead and I want this so bad. Call it what you want but I was feeling all golden rule here... you know... others had done unto me so now I must treat them the same way. I know, but it's something like that. Here we go... closer, closer... he is really moving... closer (ya hear the Jaws theme song don't you?!) Closer and over taken!! Then I start thinking ,"Ok hot shot Geo, what cha gonna do about it now? He's going to come get you for that!" It was like I was someone else and had super powers. I never dropped below 30 (yes, 30mph) until I past the crack house. I shut it down just past the crack house and had to brake it hard when I dropped back onto the regular trail part. I was laughing so hard! Monster tail wind ... I love you! Oh that was so much fun! I wished I could ride smoking crazy like that more often.

I called it a day with 40 miles. Sad but with 20-30 mph wind it was like climbing a mountain into the head wind. In fact I was telling Terri that if I figured this right then I was in the head wind about 20 miles which is twice as long as Mt Gaynor in NW Arkansas. I think it's the longest climb to do and it's about 9 miles. It was my first day of the loop the state bike tour I did back in 2005. It was NOT as hard as the ride today.

All in all I didn't get the total hours of training in but with the wind I feel safe to say that the level of training hit what would have been the hours without wind. I am happy with it. We'll see what Coach Cooper has to say. Probably something like, "Man, we ride in this kind of wind in Boulder all the time."

I'm sort of tired and my legs know they've worked the past couple of days. 167 total miles training in days. I really wanted more miles and more hours but like I said, I'm happy.

We have a crazy cold front coming through and even possible freeze tomorrow night. If it's really cold and really windy, which they say it's going to be, then I'll take the day off the bike tomorrow.

Don't forget to make a donation to the ride if you get a chance:
www.archildrens.org/GearsforEarsDonation

Life is good!