Never Trust a 80 Year Old Cyclist

I took Friday off from work (best idea ever, I would so much rather be riding my bike for hours then working!) so go for a 80 mile bike ride and 4 mile run. I left about 7:30 in the morning and it was cold for the first 40 miles. I was really glad I had my jacket. I would have froze. I don't think I could ever start out on a 80 mile ride and turn around at mile 3 to get a jacket and leave for a second time. I'm pretty sure I would just stay home.

I went out down Manning and cut across and headed a little west on the Gateway trail. It was a nice break from the hills, plus they have porta-potties along the trail. I ran into an 80 something year old cyclist and he asked where I was heading. I told him Afton and he gave me a 'interesting' way to get there. I headed down lake Lake Elmo Avenue and turned on 30th Street (this is the interesting way). My eyes were popping out of my head...the hills! I'm sure he was laughing all day about my ride, but I did tell him I wanted hills. He was kind of a character because he told me he just biked up to Columbus last weekend to visit his parents. I was shocked because this guy was 80's but really healthy because he's out biking for miles. He said they are on Coon Lake near Carlos Avery. I said I knew where that was then he finally said "they are in buried in an old cemetery". Ah - then my math made sense. I was thinking they were at least 100 plus years old.

I made it to the 40 mile mark and turned around to go home. Around 50 miles I got a flat from a huge piece of glass in my rear tire. Argh - the rear tire. I was covered in grease on my legs, my hands. I wished I had a rag and sure enough about 4 miles later there was a white rag on the shoulder of the road. What luck! I tried really hard to not think about what might be on the rag that I can't see. Thankfully that was my only flat because I carry just one spare tube, I probably should carry two next time.

After my ride I had a 4 mile run. The first 15 minutes were hard to get my legs moving but once they were able to stride it wasn't bad running. I was so happy to sleep in on Saturday!

I ran to Penn Cycle today to get more tubes. 6.99 a piece. They went up a dollar compared to last year. I'm pretty sure no one ever said this was a cheap sport. I bought 5 of them. Hopefully they will last me until IM. They said I should switch my front and bike wheel and perhaps order new tires since mine are probably well over due.