Coy Mistress has rejoined the Brumby Mob.

The Dash In, waiting on a flat tire fix.

Two weeks of rest are officially over. The Coy Mistress is back in action and has returned to run with the Brumby mob. It was tough getting out of bed Saturday at 10 to 5. Why was I getting up so early when it wasn't summer anymore? Isn't all this Cochise nonsense over and done with? The double centuries, the rides in the wee hours of the morning among the denizens launched out into the world from bars closing around 2? Yes in fact all that is over, however.... I made the discovery this week that I am at 6200 miles for the year at this point. In the spirit of celebrating meaningless milestones, I want to reach 8000 miles for the year. To do that I need to continue my 200 mile weeks with several above that. Losing a little bit of the weight I have gained over the past 6 months would be good too actually. How does one gain weight when training between 200-300 miles a week you ask? Well, um.... well, that's a very good question. I suppose when I gave myself free license to eat to replace all those calories I was burning I might have overdone it a bit. I might have taken some easy rides on those rest days I took to burn some of that off.... woulda coulda shoulda, didn't. So, mental note to self, don't go to extremes on the food even during training. In the meantime I'm going to cut back and try to ride everyday and bike commute everyday but Mondays (have to take the kids to school that day but will probably ride the Coy Mistress on a short ride before the kids wake up that day). That being said I should probably talk about the mornings ride a little more right?

There was a group meeting at 5:30 am since because of the Ride of Honor taking place at 10 AM which was Sponsored by the Brumbys and the Not One More foundation the guys training for El Tour had to get out early so they could get their 80 miles in for the weekend training ride. The 66 mile group was meeting at 6:30 but I figured since I had to pick up my two daughters before the ride I would need to be back before 8:30 so if I was going to get the requisite 80 miles in today to hit 200 for the week I would need to go with the early guys.

On the way back

I caught the group just after they had left the meeting spot at Val Vista and Brown and we were just finishing the warm up when someone flatted and so we all stopped to wait for the flat to get fixed. There were about 30-40 riders out this fine morning and after the flat we headed off toward the Superstitions at around 20 mph or just a bit under.

It must have been a pretty stiff headwind because I have caught onto the back of these guys when they were doing 25 most of the way up this road. I say up because it climbs slightly so 25 is a pretty spanky speed and when they go they sprinkle riders off the back all the way across Apache Jct. Today everyone stayed on to the Dash in where someone flatted. I was amazed how I was hanging on. I was on my threshold no mistaking it but I was not totally blasted as I usually was at this point. In fact, I held the guys all the way to the the first big hill just above the lake where everyone splits up anyway. I wasn't among the front guys or the main group up this hill, but neither was I the last one.

Bluff and windmill on the way back at sunrise

I am not the same rider after Cochise. I am a noticeably stronger rider. Considering I am hauling around about 6 more pounds lately so it says something that I am able to hold on to these guys, a large percentage of whom are platinum riders. I think the engine is doing just fine, just need to pull a few more pounds back off the Chassis.

At the top of the hill I cut loose from the guy I had climbed the hill with and turned around. I figured I had just enough time to get back home before I had to take the girls to the ride. I was surprised to find there were a few people behind me including a small group of people that had split off into a second group. I used to be in that second group.

The Goldfield Mountains from McKellips road.

I did stop for a few pictures on the way back as the sunrise on the cliffs was pretty and of course the blog entries are a lot cooler with pictures. The Goldfield mountains were particularly pretty as I took a quick sidetrip down McKellips to get a few extra miles and to grab a road a little less travelled.

I got home with an average speed of 19.9 mph over 54 miles in 2 hours and 41 minutes. Not bad. You may be thinking I was short on miles. You would be right but my plan for mileage today included a ride with my daughters on the Ride of Honor, and, since my boys would be jealous (they had to go to gymnastics at that time) I would do another ride with them later.

Yes I have. Twice actually.

The Ride of Honor is an event for us cyclists to honor those of us who have fallen at the careless hands of drivers over the years. This year they got over 400 cyclists to show up which was not as much as they hoped but still quite a showing. They had a lot of big wigs from Mesa city government. At one point Sterling had everyone who had been injured by a car raise their hands. I held mine high. I've been hit twice. Once in college by a guy blinded by the sun, and once in March by a guy in a bus who tried to squeeze between me and the other lane of traffic. He didn't get cited even though he broke the three foot law. Sterling mentioned that law didn't work as it was not being enforced. In fact the city council woman was not even aware of that law when it was mentioned.

Adela and her demons.

The ride was free but donations were accepted and everyone got a free t-shirt regardless of donation or not. It was a good ride and everyone road at a slow pace to honor those who have passed before. That being said the kids pace was a little more slower than the other guys so I ened up at the tail end with another family with some kids on dirt bikes.

Becky

My daughter was not exactly happy with having to ride 11 miles. I told her if she really wanted to we could take the shortcut back at greenfield and cut it in half. When we got to Greenfield she didn't see the sign though, and I am afraid I didn't tell her. I got to hear about how much this shortcut sucked over the next 3 or 4 miles. I don't know if she figured out that we didn't take the shortcut or not but she made the 11 miles so she earned her lunch at Panda Express.

Becky

If you are keeping a tally and point out that we are only at 65 miles now you are correct. I still had to make up those other 15 miles somewhere. Upon arriving home my Sons were eager to get on the road. My son that wiped out on the trails last week wanted to head back up to Usery to redeem himself. I recommended we ride to Red Mtn park and ride the dirt there since we didn't have a whole lot of time and I needed miles.

My boys rode surprisingly fast on the way up to the park. The rode good when we got on the dirt too. We had a blast riding the dirt hills back in the sticks. Joseph even worked up enough courage to ride down a few of them. His bravery is on the mend so that's OK. It took me a bit to get up the cahones again after that bus hit me. I figure between all the dirt riding and cruising up to the park we got 12 miles in. I didn't get 80 but 77 isn't bad. I spent nearly the whole day riding the bike and a good portion of it with my kids. It was a good day.