It is very easy to get into a routine, or really a non-routine up here in Cable. The Kansas garage is all set up perfect and it is so convenient that the routine almost begins before I get up here.
The only twist is that Stacie and her husband Karl, my orthopedic surgeon friend from Louisville are up here vacationing for the next week. Stacie grew up here and comes back a couple times a year to decompress from the hectic life of being a doctor.
Today we rode the Firehouse 50 loop, which is as the name says, 50 miles. It a few more miles riding from Dennis’. Trudi and Stacie just rode 35 miles, but Bill, Dennis, Karl and I did the 50 plus deal. I was a little tired from the race and the drive, but not dragging tired. It is super scenic, going over the Great Divide, next to the water’s of Lake Namakagon and through the Chequamegon forest. It was a little over 3 hours, so pretty perfect.
We went over to the condos by Telemark to eat with those guys last night. It is so sad seeing Telemark lodge all closed up. Maybe it will just be temporarily again. The area has so much potential, I don’t see why someone can’t just get it back up to speed and fiscally healthy.
We’re going to ride MTB this morning. I haven’t ridden a MTB bike since my shoulder surgery. I have serious doubts that it is going to work very well, but I have to try sometime. I swam for a few minutes in the lake today and don’t feel any ill-effects from it today. It wasn’t very quick, but it sort of worked. I’ll have to ask Stacie about it.
It is supposed to rain after noon. We have to take Trudi up to Duluth to head to Cascade Classic in Bend. She has a 5 am Wednesday morning flight to San Francisco, so it is nearly impossible to leave in the morning from here. Duluth is fun to hang at for an evening anyway.
Okay, better go make sure my MTB tires hold air. It has been gathering dust.
Dennis missin’ around at the Great Divide marker outside of Grandview.
And here he is again following Bill and I around all day.
The road next to Lake Namakagon.
Stacie grilling salmon for dinner.
One of my favorite places in the world. The water is so warm right now. At least the first 3 or 4 feet.
Gelato and cheesecake for dessert.
You and Trudi are blessed to lead such wonderful and purposeful lives. Wishing you both many more days in the saddle and fewer days at the doctor’s office.
You can now ride singletrack all the way to Hayward from Cable. Those trail builders up there need to be honored with a plaque somewhere in town
Hey Steve this is totally off topic but have been waiting to hear your opinion on Team Sky’s performance in the TDF. Particularly the fact that Froome posted the 3rd fastest time up that mountain on Saturday “only bested by Armstrong and one other”. Also the fact that sky refuses to release his power data? A spokesman for the team says that people don’t understand how to accurately interpret the data and that basically that as humans evolve we have to understand that even clean athletes will be able to “naturally” surpass the performances of even those who dipped in the past.???
Looks like what I posted the other day . . .
Science of Sport says that clean athletes will someday surpass doped athletes, and they have no dog in the fight.
http://www.sportsscientists.com/2013/07/clean-performances-to-surpass-doped.html
Generally, the folks at Science of Sport are all over the Froome topic. Good stuff.
http://www.sportsscientists.com/
Purposeful? He travels the country year ’round going to bike races all year. Fun, but surely not purposeful.
Euro, i think we start running into trouble when we define what is “purposeful” for others. For me, “purposeful” is being true to yourself. Steve has spent a lifetime pursuing his passion, what could be more purposeful than that?
Any chance you’d say what lake that is (“one of my favorite places”)? We just got a cabin this past winter a few miles from downtown Cable, so I’m just curious. I know about secret swimming / fishing spots, so no offence if you’d rather not say.