It’s been a pretty solid week of riding, with a few really tough excursions.

The week started with two take-it-easy type of days, Sunday and Monday, totaling about 55 miles at a very moderate pace on gravel roads on the mountain bike.

Tuesday, a friend and I did a 70-miler, with me on the Django, fighting a strong and gusty wind for much of the ride with varying degrees of headwind and crosswind. Then, when we finally felt the wind at our backs, we really picked up the pace. For awhile, I was in the big chainring exclusively, just jamming it as hard as I could for as long as I could. It seemed like every time I looked down at the computer, the speed was above 20 MPH. I ended up with a 15.00 MPH average, on the dot, and I was completely spent. I think that was the longest period of time I had ever kept up that kind of pace.

The next day was the regular Wednesday group ride, and I thought about bailing on it. But since this ride is usually a fairly relaxed 30-miler, I decided to go, and just take it easy. Of course, the ride leader happened to have other ideas. We ended up doing 44 miles at a 16.04 MPH average. So much for my easy recovery day. Luckily, the wind was mild on this day. Still, it was another personal best — my longest 16+ MPH ride ever.

Thursday, I decided to take a rest day. I’d ridden for 10 days straight, so I was due. Even so, with the sun coming out in the afternoon, after morning showers, I was starting to feel temptation. But I held firm.

Friday started off rainy again, so I resigned myself to another rest day. But in the afternoon, under cloudy skies, I did a quick grocery run on the mountain bike, trying out the new bar ends I’d purchased on Wednesday, as well as a new seatpost rack. Both performed well.

Saturday was another big ride. I have a friend who’s training for an endurance mountain bike ride (the Dirty Kanza — 200 miles through the Flint Hills of east-central Kansas), and he wanted to get in some relatively fast gravel miles. I wasn’t sure how many I could handle on the mountain bike, since I’m still kind of getting acclimated to that rig, but I was game to try.

The day dawned with thunderstorms, but by the time we started out at mid-morning, the rain had mostly cleared out. I’d mapped out a 50-mile route down to Louisburg, sticking mostly to gravel. The roads were in decent shape for the most part, wet but not too tacky or muddy. The ride southward was partially into the wind, but we still made pretty good time. By the time we reached Louisburg, we were averaging 13.5 MPH.

The way back, though we had a tailwind, and the roads were flatter, turned into a bit of a slog for me. This was my longest, fastest ride on the mountain bike, and I was wearing down. It didn’t help that we hit a very muddy section of road about halfway back, but it did help a great deal when we hit pavement a few miles from my house. By the time I got back, I was pretty well beat, with sore legs and sore hands. My tail end, which I’d been most worried about, was actually doing pretty well.

Of course, with all the gravel and mud, the bike and I were a mess. After getting myself cleaned up with a quick shower, it took a half hour or so to rinse off and wipe down the bike, re-lube the chain, clean up the muddy gear, and throw the dirty clothes in the washer.

Still, even with the mud and fatigue, it was a heck of a fun ride, and not a bad pace, either — 13.7 MPH. As a bonus, much of the route was new to me, and it’s always a treat to ride on unfamiliar rural roads.