Spring Training

April 17, 2011

I went out for what turned out to be my first longish ride of the spring. As I loaded up with a bottle full of energy drink and strapped on my clownish carbon-soled clogs I was planning a quick ride over to Rich’s to get a ride around a local lake and to borrow his truck to bring some apple trees back to the potential suburban orchard I call home.

Much like the Huskers football team, recreational/non-competitive/commuting bicyclists like myself spend a fair amount of time enduring something I like to call "spring training."  A good coach is very helpful in situations like this.  Luckily my riding partner and best friend Rich is very motivated when it comes to putting in some serious distance astride bicycles. 

I met up with Rich and we rode around the lake and then down the road and then went down a road that appears to be in the process of being transformed into a bike trail, which I thought was great. Then we rode for several miles on hilly country roads with the wind. Rich seemed anxious to get some serious riding in and I was feeling pretty good, so we rode out to see the llamas.

We also avoided some slight flooding.

Rich had been working much to hard and finally had a day off, so he exuded some serious energy as we pedalled over many hills on our "country mile" long ride.  My typical view of the inspirational Rich during the event looked like this-

We then rode for what seemed like several days along gravel roads.

I saw many grain storage bins, silos, and propane tanks.

This particular grain silo looks a little like a beaver wearing one of those peasant Asian cone hats (made famous by the villains in the cult classic Big Trouble in Little China). 

It was all quite pastoral and enjoyable. Especially once we finished the ride and ingested large quantities of English muffin pizzas and bread pizzas. A quick truck ride home with the apple trees and a Samurai rice ale polished off the day, all unrelated to Chris Carmichael’s personalized training programs.  My personal training program consists of sporadic spastic attempts at riding long, slow distances, followed by a sore butt, lots of food and a couple beers.