RecumBum

It’s been cold here lately, with nearly two weeks of colder-then-normal temperatures. But at long last the cold snap has broken, with a 40+ degree day on Saturday, and a 50+ degree day today. A warm day in winter is a sin to waste, and although I’d gotten out for an hour on Saturday, it was in the cool morning, and I missed the warmth of the afternoon.

Not today.

After attempting to put a group ride together, and having plans fall through, I ended up going out by myself a little before one. The wind was from the south-southwest at about 15 MPH, so of course that’s the direction I headed.

Taking Ridgeview to 207th, I came across my first cyclist of the day huffing up a short rise just east of Spring Hill. Another mile south on Woodland I came across two boys on BMX bikes carrying buckets, stopping every so often to pick up cans from the roadside, stomp them into flatness on the asphalt, and toss them into their containers. A little bit further on, a man and his young son rode their bikes along the road, the little boy struggling up a short hill and his father urging him on.

After passing over 169 highway on 223rd, I took Old Kansas City Road south towards Hillsdale. A few miles down the road I was passed by a white pickup truck driven by a man wearing a black cowboy hat, who proceeded to lay on his horn with two long “get the f*** off the road” blasts. That’s how I took it, anyway. But I just smiled and waved. No sense in returning anger with anger. But still, sometimes stereotypes are richly earned, aren’t they?

At 255th I headed west towards Hillsdale Lake. There were a fair number of people out and about on this sunny day, and most didn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry. After topping the big hill east of the lake, I coasted down onto the dam, and after stopping for a few pictures of the still-frozen lake, I rode the length of the dam road before turning around and heading back east. Finally, the wind was at my back.

Shortly after turning north on Harmony Road, I stopped for a little break and checked my cyclocomputer – 19 miles at a 13.1 MPH average. Better than I expected, given the wind.

Back on the bike, and pushed along by a nice tailwind, I quickly passed over the Tontzville arm of the lake and on towards Gardner Road. By the time I reached 199th Street, the wind was coming fully from the south, and turning back east, the crosswind was rather rough, but another three miles and I was on Clare and headed north once again with the wind, making good time.

At 175th I had to turn east again, and noticed a rider several hundred yards behind me. Given a lightweight road bike and a reasonable fit rider, I knew I couldn’t hold him off for long. Even though I was rolling pretty well on the flat road and wide shoulder, he caught me after about a mile-and-a-half.

He said he was about halfway through a 40-miler, and we talked for a bit before he said so long and took off. By this time we were at my turn-off anyway. I had one more mile, this one into the teeth of the wind, and then I was home.

It turned out to be about 37 miles, with an average speed of 14.6 MPH. So yeah, I must have made pretty good time on the return trip. I was fairly well cooked by the end, and even now, several hours later, I can still been it in my legs. But it’s a good feeling.