Pre-Work Fun

Well, as I mentioned in my previous post it was time to get my ass in gear. Which brings me to Wednesday morning, at 6:45 am:


Yes. That's me... on my bike. And that thing behind me? That's that evil creature called "Early Morning." Some people say it's related to "Night Time," but I'm pretty sure their mistaken. Night Time is this wonderful creature that is full of beers and revelry and music and romance. This other creature has to be the Devil's brother... or cousin at least. Luckily, about 15 minutes into my pre-work ride, the sun decided to get off its lazy ass, too:


Proof that I'm not just playing these images in reverse during sunset instead of sunrise:


...although, I guess there's no "am" on my cycle computer. You'll have to just take my word that 7:05 is mean ol' the morning kind, not the nice dinner-related version.


So, I why did I leave the warm comfort of my bed before 7:00? Well, it turns out there's this big bike ride I'm doing in (now) 19 days. That's, like, less than three weeks. Also, I've only raised money for 31.5 of the 103.1 miles I'll be running/riding. So, I figured the best way to meet my $10/mile goal, was to blackmail my readers with the threat of more pictures of my ugly mug (after torturing them with a few taken before there was even light outside). Thus, if you'd like to avoid more pictures of me, please donate here! Or conversely, if you can't get enough of ma' purty face, please donate here!

(The cleverer among you will note that those links go to the same place. But, shhh, don't tell.)


There are a few things worth noting about my 18.6 pre-work, pre-breakfast, totally donation-worthy ride. First, I discovered the Great Northern Boulevard (seen above). This is a great stretch of in-city road just north of me that runs perfectly straight, with no risk of cars crossing the lane. It's a great feeling when you can watch your cycling computer tick up to 24+ mph while in-city.

Another thing is that I look great in my Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop cycling hat:


I won this hat in a raffle going to a showing of Ride the Divide with Eli a couple weeks ago. Awesomesauce.

(On a related note, this documentary which discusses the "Tour de Divide" mountain bike race from Canada to Mexico along the Rockies, is--for lack of a better description--the sweetness. The makers are donating a portion of all their proceeds to LIVESTRONG: you can check them out, and buy the movie if you'd like. I mean, for serious, look how awesome this is:



Is that sweet or what? Also, Erik Mathy of 1Gear1Cause was at the screening because next year he's going to attempt the 2,741 mile ride on a single-speed mountain bike. For those of you who don't know how crazy-awesome slash just-plain-crazy this is... well... I don't really have a way to describe it to you. But it is. You can support his efforts--which also benefit LIVESTRONG--here.)

Also, during part of my ride, I got to try to keep pace with a really, really (really) fast cyclist. His tree-truck (yet shaven, and thus daintier than mine), legs got him going from a stop at a light, to around 30 mph (no joke, I was trying to keep up and checking my computer to see) in about 30 yards. Following him (or trying to) for around 4 miles, made my trip speed average go from 17.2 mph (pretty good for me for in-city riding), to 18.2 mph! With that boost, I got the motivation to try to keep it up (I was only about halfway into the ride at this point), and was able to finish with a final average speed of 18.0 mph. It made me tired:


Oh, remember that picture of the church when the sun was just barely coming up? Here is it toward the end of the ride:


It's a lot brighter at the end, no? Eddy greeted me when I got home:


Hillary wasn't up yet. But to her credit, she works from home, and went out and killed at 3-mile run later this day in prep for her 5K. (She's still working toward her goal, too, so show some love! For that matter, so are Andrew, Kasey and Spencer! We all appreciate your support.)

Happy Riding.