Weekend Ride

It's a struggle to find time to get on my bike during the week at college. With a three day weekend ahead, i was aching to get a decent ride in. After putting in some time at the Fuhrmanator's shop (keeping a close eye on competition) i threw my stuff in the car and shot in to Jeff. After wasting some time Friday, and an afternoon on a boat, Bopper and i packed up for my grandma's house. We arrived Saturday night and took some time to play with the four-wheelers on the farm. After a good night's sleep, we woke up to sub 70 degree weather and an awesome breakfast with grandma. We suited up for the ride, decided to head toward a few state parks/forest areas (meremac state park and Little indian creek conservation area).

We rolled out of Spring Bluff with a full day ahead. We began the ride as if we had rabid dogs biting at our heels. About 20 miles into the ride i had to tell Chris to take it out of high gear. 20 miles an hour was not the pace i had in mind for the day, and my legs agreed. We cooled it down a little and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We rolled through Sullivan and made our way toward the Meramec State Park. When we arrived we walked inside the visitor center and checked out the wildlife exhibit.

I don't believe the lady at the front desk had ever seen cyclists before, because she had a dumbfounded look on her face... i like to believe that Bopp and i just look that good in spandex. When asking her about the trails in the park, we were told that bikes weren't necessarily prohibited, but that our bikes probably couldn't handle their trail. We didn't take the time to shred trail there because we had ground to cover.

There were some massive hills on our way to Indian Creek, and Bopp and i fought to climb to the top of these monsters. After some more peddling and goofing around, we rolled up on indian creek.

We explored the area via horse trails for awhile, and the trails turned out to be pretty sweet. We crossed through several creeks and the dirt trails were packed down nice, but not all torn up by the horses. There was one climb that had some pretty knarly wash outs in it.

After riding the trails for awhile, we decided to head back while we still had the energy to make it. We realized not too much later the route back was gonna be a challenge. Bopp pulled most of the way back to Sullivan, where we stopped and grabbed some more water from a gas station. At this point Bopp's legs were starting to feel the heat, and i was thankful that i had held back a little when Chris had pushed the pace. I pulled us on home the last 10 miles or so, knowing that BBQ Chicken and green beans were waiting for us.

All in all the ride totalled out to be about 68 miles long, taking 5 and a half hours or so including the stops. We couldn't have asked for a better day, and i can't wait to get out again.

Comments

[Stoney]

You were keeping a close eye on the competition at Fermin's shop? How many other wicked-fast college students does he have working there?

I like how you matched your sunglasses to the color of your pretty pink bike. Accessorizing your outfit is one of the most overlooked aspects to becoming a stronger cyclist.

[turbo]

He actually has two guys working there that raced the single speed champs... They will be a bigger threat in cyclocross cause they are more on the roadie side i believe.
And thanks Stoney, i'm glad you get it. Nobody seems to appreciate the time and effort i put into my cycling attire anymore.

[jenkins]

Looks like fun, next time you guys go out there you should put some fatter tires on and ride it Monstercross style. Singletrack on your cross bike is a really good time.

[Nick]

Looks like your grandma let you guys wear some of her sunglasses. That's nice.

[bob]

Hey if anyone is off work this wednesday I'm gonna do a scouting ride out at Cedar Creek. Should be a pretty kickass ride.

[barry]

I'm finally situated here in San Diego enough that I can get onto the internet. Got no excuse other than I've just been busy gettin here and moving in. I won't go into a bunch of detail, I'll save that for the FB page, but my new email is [email protected] please email me so that I will have some email addresses. I wasn't smart enough to save my addresses from mediacom acct, so now I gotta go out and get them.

Ran across my first rattler while I was running the other nite. They've also reported a great white in Point Loma where I'll be diving. So anyone of these posts could be my last. I'm just minutes away from mtb and gravel roads. However. at least around here they've never heard of IMBA when setting up trails. They just go straight up and they are tough. I've been mostly riding my cross bike up there because the inclines are a killer on a SS.