Thursday April 27th at 9:00 am in O' Fallon Missouri.
Tom and I rode from the O' Fallon Community Park through the surronding area. It was a beautiful day, sunny and around 65 with a little breeze. The area we rode was hilly, not too much so but it had almost not flat aras. The hills were not steep and the scenery was relaxing.
Ride stats, Distance; 40 mls, Avs; 16.9, Mxs; 36, Tm; 2 hrs 20 mins.
This is a ride I'd reccomend to everyone.

Spring Chicken ride



Jeff, Craig, Joe, Brian and Dave. Tom took the picture...

This is our group.

From Left to right:
Dave, Joe, Joe, Joey, Brian and Tom...

Me...

Sunday, April 23rd, Earth Day.

What a wonderful day for an early morning ride! It was in the low 60's and just a slight breeze, and the sun was out. There was a storm that stayed out to the South West until well after we finished. I actually started clouding over where we were in the parking lot after the ride but It didn't rain and I was able to drive home the whole way with the top down and I didn't get wet.

It was the annual Hostelling International "Spring Chicken" ride in St. Libory Illinois. There was a great turn out. When we got to the parking lot at the American Legion Hall there was a parking attendant and we all laughed at him for wanting us to park close together. When we finished I was surprised that there was so many people there. I guess they came for the chicken. There is a restaurant in St. Libory called amazingly enough "Chicken" that is supposed to have great fried chicken. I haven't tried it yet. Someday...

Well, our group consisted of some of the usual suspects, Tom, Dave and Brian and we had Jeff join us who is a friend of Brian's and Dave's. We also had Craig join us. Criag is someone who Dave and Brian met on a ride on Saturday, he lives in the neighborhood and is an avid cyclist. He complimented us on pushing him to ride fast but we all were trying to keep up with him. I guess its a male thing, to see who can stay at the front. Anyway we arrived around 8:30 am and rode just under 44 miles, avs 17.8, my max speed was 27 and the time was 2 hrs and 27 min. It was a great ride for us all.

We talked about a name and some team shirts for our little group. We are getting to be a big enough group to get shirts and look impressive on our rides. The only name submitted so far was "Road Warriors" or "Rode Warriors" I'm not sure which spelling Tom was suggesting.

Joe and Joey were busy this weekend so they didn't join us, they were missed. And I have to say, we are missing Kate. She hasn't rode with us in a while and we need that equilibrium of a woman in the group...the yin and yang thing...

Tom took pictures again and once I figure out how to post them I will start...

Tuesday April 18th, another great day for bicycling. I met Tom at the Kirkwood Community Center at 9:00 am. we went on another HI weekday ride, this was the Azalea Ride. The Azaleas are blooming right now and the ride took us through some of the neighborhoods of West St. Louis city from Kirkwood to the Botanical Garden. We were supposed to go through the garden once we got there but I had to go to work by 2:30 pm so we skipped the garden walk part. Tom and I don't like to stop for very long anyway.

We put in 28 miles, Mxs: 28, Tm: a little over 2 hrs, Avs 14. The day was very nice lower 60's and a little breezy but not bad.

Once again, thanks to Tom for helping me get my average time up.

We talked a little about the 5 century challange and a 60 mile ride Tom wants to do from his house to downtown Stl and through South City and back to his house. I think I'm ready for it.

This weekend is Earth Day Celebrations and the Spring Chicken Ride.

Sunday April 9th at 8:00 am. It was in the high 30's and very sunny and no wind a great day for cycling.

The ride group consisted of Joe, Joey (a Father and son duo), Brian, Dave and Tom, this is my core group, Kate usually rides with us but she was training a new employee so she couldn't make it.

We rode our quasi-normal ride with an added route by the Catsup Bottle Water Tower. There are a few hills, some medium some small no really large hills. There are a couple of dogs but they are getting used to us so they don't chase us far.

Our ride time was about two and a half hours, average speed was about 15.7, distance was around 41 miles and my maximum speed was 35.5 mph.

We also talked about the first century of the year coming up, May 20th. I hope to be in shape by then to do it. We'll see.

My total milage for the year at this point is around 260 miles.

Another great ride yesterday. 45 miles, 2 hours and 55 minutes, average speed 15.3 mph.
It was breezy at first and ended up with a headwind at about 7 mph. Some hills but mostly flat. We started out in Columbia Illinois and rode through a couple of small towns.

Once again I rode with Tom.

Ok, I'm finally going to add another post.

On Friday the 31st of March, I was able to use the bike at work to make rounds. I only rode for a couple of hours, I'm not sure how far I rode but the point is I am able to ride a bike as part of my job!

April Fool's Day I rode in a Hostelling International ride from 5 miles North of Alton Illinois across the Confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers to Brussels Illinois and back. We took the Brussels Ferry across. It was about 48 miles round trip. It was flat for the first 12 or 13 miles and then rolling hills to Brussels, beautiful scenery. Average speed 16.6 mph. The day couldn't have been better. There was a head wind that was about 5 mph and it stayed with us on the return trip. The temperature was around 62 and it was sunny. A great day!

Tom was my riding partner. He's great to ride with. He's a much stronger rider and he's helping me ride faster and longer. I'm hoping to do the Hostelling International 5 Century Challange this year.

Tom and I were riding in a pace line in the beginning and the person in front of me kicked up some road debris. I missed it but Tom hit it and flatted. That was the only bad incident on the whole ride.

We are riding again tomorrow, I'll keep ya'all posted...