Worst day of the year!

Actually, it wasn't. Last years 'Worst day of the year' ride was much, much worse. Last year it was 17 degrees, blowing snow and I was on a road bike. This year was actually enjoyable. It was in the mid 20s and light wind. However, that is not where my day started...

That morning I woke up, had me a bowl of Cap't Crunch. Then i grabbed the bike, the trainer and headed tword Ann Arbor to Great Lakes Cycling and Fitness to workout with the Junior Team. It was a lot of fun, Mark Lovejoy had a great workout planned.It started out with us warming up and doing a make believe paceline, then we simulated riding sections and climbs of De Ronde Van Vlaanderen (The Tour of Flanders.) It was quite a hard workout, but I guess thats because a workout is only as hard as you make it, and I wanted to get some good training in. The bike shop was a great place to hold the ride. There was more than enough room for all of us, and there was a lot to look at. It was a lot of fun to be there with the Juniors watch their form and help them become more efficient riders. It will be a lot better when we get more Juniors in the program, and we will. The Junior program Mark and the others (I assume Joe and Ace had a large part in it) have come up with sounds great. Full details aren't out yet, but it has a nice structure, and there will be plenty of help for the young riders between our coaches and mentors. So if you are reading this and you have a young child (10+) you should try out cycling, it is a magnificent sport!

After the hour and a half trainer ride, I drove back to EMU to eat and change. Then I headed over to meet up with the 2pm 12 mile ride because I did not have the time to make it for the 40 miles ride which contained everyone I knew. But luck would have it, on my way down the trail to AA, I came across the 40 milers, so I turned around and joined them. I got to talk to Joe, Mark, Nick Boswell (the U of M Cycling Club President), and a few of the U of M riders. I rode with them for 20 miles or so, then went back to campus because I was tired. (Note: when I headed out for AA in the afternoon, my legs were already tired from the trainer workout)

That pretty much sums up my Sunday.

Today after class it was mid 30s and not raining, so I jumped on the bike and went out for a really light one hour ride. As it turns out, I don't know the roads around here as well as I would like. Haha. I knew i didn't know the roads, but I knew my heading, so I knew how to get back. Well I ended up in Wayne County, on the other side of Willow Run Airport, which isn't far, but I dont know roads out that way. So as I was riding around looking for a non-highway road to get back north of the airport I came across a road I thought looked nice when I went by it earlier. Turns out, from the south end of that same road, it is packed down dirt. Me and my bright mind decide to ride down it thinking "It should only be dirt for a block or so." That block turned out to be a mile. Up untill that point, my bike had stayed pretty clean....not anymore. Snowy dirt roads do that. Anyways.....to make a long story short, I made it back to campus in time to drive to Pizza Hut and get a free medium one topping pizza for filling out a credit card form. Its alright, I dont have a credit score so I wont be approved, this is the second time I have done it this year. Haha.

So anyways here are some pictures of my dirt bike. I know we have all seen a dirty bike, but i needed something to make this blog not so boring. The picture of the chainstay: I wiped off some of the dirt so you can see how dirty it is. Hope everyone is riding outside in this wonderful weather. (I hear 40s tomarrow)