I hadn’t done a group ride in a while. Like since October. I’ve been busy I guess. Or lazy. Anyway, I went to the bike club holiday party last night and it was decided we were going to go out at 1pm. I was all for it. We were going to ride 3 hours. It seemed kind of far for my liking, but I hate pulling rank when I’m not even thinking about racing.

I hadn’t ridden my road bike for a long time. It seemed pretty foreign. Really foreign. There were 12 of us at the start. Pretty windy. I didn’t come close to pulling the whole way. Maybe not even half the time. It was kind of like racing. Being in the wind was too hard and sitting on was too easy.

Everyone else seemed to be breathing way too hard. I am so out of riding shape that I couldn’t even get winded. I had to ride up every hill out of my saddle. Breathing wasn’t an issue. Skiing a couple days ago seemed more familiar than riding. That is wrong.

So, just a couple more riding days, then Christmas, then skiing the rest of the year.

The official, unofficial Double Birkie is Sunday, December 27th. Meet at the Fish Hatchery at 8 am I think (maybe call Riverbrook 800-297-7687 to make sure). Then ski up to Telemark Resort and back. No problem-It’s not even 100km. That cortisone injection in my shoulder is going to pay off big time that day!!!

See through steel bridge over the Kansas River near Rossville Kansas. It is really long and I love to look down the whole way over. Caution-Dangerous when wet!

Sunsets in Kansas are 2nd to none. I counted 19 contrails in the sky when I took this photo.