The Dog Days Of Summer

I have settled into a pretty decent riding routine that adds up to about 125 miles per week. This routine includes two, 20 to 30 mile rides each week at Wilson, one dirt road ride around Great Bend and two long road bike rides. Nothing beats a good single track ride but I have grown to really enjoy my solo road bike rides. Give me some hot weather, my ipod loaded with "Linkin Park" tunes along with the quite country roads around Great Bend and I can go 40 miles pretty easily. Those road bike rides are also a great stress reliever. My weekend rides at Wilson have also been great because Linda has really started to enjoy riding that trail. We even did a recent night ride up there. It has been great watching her technical skills improve over the past several months.

The race schedule will get pretty busy in August and September with the racing frenzy kicking off on July 25th at the Sunflower Games in Topeka. On August 1st we will be back in the Topeka area for the Crocodile Rock Race at Lake Perry. August 14th is R.I.M. (Rapture in Misery), a 12 hour race at Crowder Lake near Trenton, MO. August 28th is the always great "Cruise The Blues" race held up at Doug Palen's farm near Tipton, KS. September 12th is the "Tour De Lizard" race at Camp Horizon outside of Ark City, KS. September 18 is the KC Cup at Swope Park in Kansas City and Sept. 26th is the Red Dirt Race at Draper in Oklahoma City. Looking further out into early October is the greatest race of them all, the "24 Hours of Moab" outside of Moab, Utah on October 9th and 10th.

In addition to all of these rides, on August 6th will be a challenging ride for sure. Around a dozen of us are headed out to Colorado and we will be riding the "Ring The Peak" trail, http://fotp.com/ringthepeak/index.html . This is a series of trails which climbs up Pikes Peak, over the continental divide, across the secluded western side of the peak and back down the mountain. The trail head starts at 6400' and we will climb to 11,400' and spend 3 days riding and camping. It will be a challenge and also a great experience for all of us riding in the backwoods with the bears and mountain lions.

Well I am off for a dirt road ride, until next time, stay "Clipped in and Crankin".