Decatur Road ride

Brad, Jeff, and I went to Decatur Illinois this past weekend to visit Brad's parents, do a little skiing, ride our bikes, and drink some beer. We decided to bring our road bikes along so when the girls were skiing we could take a ride and explore wonderful Decatur.

On Saturday we were bored and decided to hit the road. We tried to map out a ride at the house and headed out the door. Very quickly we found out that are plans were not that great. We found out that some roads were gravel and not paved, or they had little gravel patches in them. Not good for road tires!! But we continued and found some good country roads with a little bit of hill climbs. A good ride getting us three to learn how to work together drafting. Man it makes a big difference when 3 people work together versus a one man team. You are able to go much faster with much less effort. The first ride was about 20 miles, good day to get the legs moving since I didn't ski like the others did earlier in the day.

On Sunday we were planning on a group ride put on by the local bike shop in Decatur. We pulled up to the parking lot and quickly found out that no one had showed up. We met up with a local cyclist that was just passing by and he gave us a pretty good route. He said he had been on the road for 50+ miles, but I didnt believe him. He loved to talk so Brad was in heaven while Jeff and I hung out in the back with Brad's college roomate, Jason. We proceeded on and blew Jason out of the water, he was not used to riding that fast nor that far. Brad stayed back with him most of the time and myself and Jeff got some good interval training in. I even hit 33 on flat ground trying to push myself towards the end. This ride was very flat, and windy. One way was easy, the other way was tough. We rode through one of the connecting towns and stopped in at the gas station for a water fill up and a little rest and we also had to find our way back to the car. The ride ended up being about 27 miles for Jeff and I. Great weather and some good country scenery. We will have to do that again. We finished the night with some good Mexican food and margaritas, followed by some good ole putt putt.

Monday we all woke up to rain hitting the windows. The girls went out skiing early and they guys waited until later. Not feeling well, I stayed home and waited for a while longer. Decided to pack up the car and head home through some nasty rain, they said it was about 8 inches in a couple hours and we drove right through it.

Now back in STL and plan to ride and prepare for the Rhetts Run mountain bike race in a week and a half in Columbia. Gotta keep training and getting faster!

Jay