Working for the Weekend

I know that most everybody works to get to the weekend and I am not any different. This weekend was jacked up and a blur, but fun. I am not for sure that all that goes together, but who cares.

I started on Saturday morning doing a long bike ride with the Church on The Move Cycling group. This would be my second ride with them and it is something that I need. I have come to realize that my cycle handling skills are not as sharp as theirs and that they really push me, and I need that. We had planned on doing about 70 miles for the day.

It ended up just being me and two other guys and we rolled out from the TCC trailhead at 81st & 169. I did not even know there was a trail that started there. We rolled out at 9 AM and got on the Creek Turnpike Trail. About three miles in, guess what, a rear tire flat. Fortunately, the other guys swung back around and came and helped. I have been on a few other bike rides and they would have just left you. I had punctured the tire on something, so I had a patch that I put on and aired it back up and we were rolling again. I made it to the next intersection and something felt wrong again. I got off the bike and sure enough, the back brake had somehow got up under the tire and was peeling it off the rim. The only way to take care of it was to let some air out and put the tire back on. About that time the other guys showed back up and started to help. I ran out of Co2, so started using theirs when, BOOM, the back tire overinflated and blew. I thought my day was done. Although I have to admit that the explosion right by my head was pretty cool. Borrowed another tube from them and we were finally off. At this time another couple that had showed up late, found us and rode along. They were on a tandem, talk about a workout trying to keep up with a tandem.

We decided that we had better stop at Tom's on Riverside and get some more supplies or it could be a long day. We picked up some more tubes and Co2 and headed off to Turkey Mountain and the West side trails.
Turkey is one of my favorite places to run, but today we were on bikes. We took the trail and crossed the bridge at 11th and took the road to to OSU and then took the Osage Trail to Skiatook. About 5 miles into this section of the Trail, the guy next to me starts to put his head down at the intersections and he is not looking good. He is kind of a bigger guy and he thought he was getting dehydrated. We pullover in the shade for awhile and let him cool off. We have made it about 25 miles and have 10 more to go to get to Skiatook and lunch at Subway. We finally take off and we make it to Sperry and refill water bottles at the gazebo, while the whole town was out waiting on a parade. I love small town parades as it brings out all the strange people you don't normally see. They like the idea of floats and free candy, maybe that is how we could help a lot of civilization, floats and candy. Hmm, just a thought.

We headed up to Skiatook and made it to Subway. We re-fueled and took back off. We made it to Sperry and a couple miles after that, the other guy started to drop off again. He ended up calling his girlfriend to come pick him up at OSU. We again waited for awhile in the shade for him and then we took off. We made it about a half a mile and guess what, he had a rear flat tire. We stopped changed it and made it back to OSU. We waited for his girlfriend to show up for at least a half an hour and by that time it was heating up.

We took off and rode to 96th & Riverside, where the couple with the tandem were parked and we decided that we would ride back to our vehicles. That section of the Creek Turnpike has several hills and the other guy with was starting to cramp on the hills. I offered him some electrolytes, but I think he thought I was trying to give him some Green Acid as he did not know me that well. If he would have starting seeing little green men on tricycles, that was not my fault!

We finally made it back to my Jeep at 4:15 pm. That is right, 7 hours and 15 minutes on the bike. We farted around so much that it stretched the bike out for that long. With the flats and making sure that the other guy was safe, I do not see how it could have been any different. Needless to say when I got home, I was in the doghouse, but that's OK, our doghouse is pretty comfortable.

On Sunday afternoon, I headed back to Turkey Mountain for some trail running. I cannot believe what all they have done to that area. Above is the parking lot that is being re-done, among other things. I wanted to get some trail and hill training in as the Leadville Marathon is coming up quick. I ended up with about 9 miles as the humidity was horrible and I did not want to push it yet. I plan on several more excursions out to Turkey before we leave for Leadville.
A nice view of the Mabee Center across the river.
I guess this is where the San Francisco hostel will be, or I mean the restroom.
Today it was windy and it started to rain, so this is what my workout was. That is OK as I need some time on the bike as I am doing the Land Lover division of the Tulsa Tri this Sunday. I don't even think I will swim this week. What a weekend!

Great job by those from TAT that competed yesterday at the Kansas Ironman 70.3. One of these days I will do that, if I figure out how to swim.