Something strange happened on the way to Saturday AM breakfast today, but for things to be in perspective I need to back up a day and tell you about Friday, and how it could have sucked.

Friday morning while on the way to work, my heart sunk when I heard a sound that is becoming all to familiar. TINK, well that's wrong, it was more like tink. My Decore rear wheal has not been working well for me. This may (is) mostly due to the fact that I'm what is referred to in the biking world as a double Clydesdale, or the monicure I prefer an Elk on the bike.

Being well over the 250 mark, the stress placed on my back wheal is better defined as tonnage. Well that new wheals were not designed for this kind of stress, actually the rim and hub can take it, it was the spokes that are having issues. So after the extremely diminutive tink, notifying me that another spoke just went to bike part heaven, I was rewarded with a little shimmy in the rear. About ten minuets latter, that sound raised its ugly little head again. Two down. Crap. Damm. Dog flop and all other appropriate words.

Side Note: When I get down to Clydesdale weight, I'm buying this jersey.

After a short work day on Friday, I figured I could limp the bike back to Dave H's house, do a quick spoke change out, and then hit up one of the local climbs. About fifteen minuets into my ride home, there it was again, after a easy standing peddle up a small rise...tink! Ok, at this point I'm done like bacon. I don't have the skills to do a backyard three spoke swap and tune. Its not the spoke change out that's the problem, its tuning the wheel. If all of the spokes were spread out around the wheal, not so much of a problem, just change out the broken ones, tension the new additions and then perform a slight tune. But in this case, the three spokes that broke, were side by side. Gerrrrr. This caused my back wheal to look like, well a, Pringle.

So I grabbed my cell, and pulled up the speed dial for my local LBS. After talking to Rick, he told me to just cut to the chase and bring it in for restringing. After spending an hour taking shop with the boys at the LBS I was back in the saddle and on my way to meet up with Dave H. for the ride home.

So this brings us to Saturday. Every Saturday morning our group of friends meet up for breakfast at a local hot grill and coffee shop. So Friday evening I got it in my head to ride the bike to breakfast. Its only about ten miles round trip, but its in my option some of the hardest ten miles in Harrisburg. From my house its straight down Progress avenue.

Not that bad right, now take into account that my typical ride to work has a total elevation change of a negative amount. In the past I have hated climbing, HATED IT, it was the most painful thing I could think of. This 5 miles has some killer hills for me, I almost riped the alarm clock off the bedside table and ditched the ride this morning. But I packed up the wedge pack and hit the road. First couple of hills I went slow into, got off the saddle and rode up them fairly well. I got a nice 32mph down hill run and then back up the next climb. Things are going well, really well, that is when I realized I was having fun, painful fun, but I was enjoying my self. Every hill I got to, I lead into it nice and easy, found a good gear, stood up and made the climb. I left myself a full hour for the five mile ride, and successfully made it in 32 min, not a bad effort. Hell I was shocked, and I felt really good.

Hear is a image of the elevation profile of the ride in. Now I don't have a GPS mount, yet, so I did the rough math for elevation change and came up with about a total ride elevation change of 450 feet going one way. That tied into the fact that I got a wonderful downhill near the end of the ride in, made the way in fun but challenging.

So after a wonderful breakfast, spinage wrap with mushrooms, and a fruit cup, chased with four cups of coffee (oh yea) it was time to ride back. I have to admit I was a little bit nervous. So on went the head phone, some good rock and roll and get to moving my feet.

Now this is a bad photo from my cell phone but it at least give some idea of what the starting hill at 4.5 miles looks like from the bottom. Again I was out of the saddle, click up two gears and pound it out. This is the point where I started to think there was something wrong with me, I'm in pain yes, my legs are killing me heck yes, but I know I have this hill beat. That is when I realized I was having fun. Now I typically don't like ridding by my self, but this was fun. Just me, the hill and that little voice in the back of my head.

The rest of the hills, bang, bang, bang goes the legs, the rest of the hills are not really that bad. That's not saying that they weren't painful, because they do, but things were going well. So I got back to the last climb, a slow, long, and large left hand dogleg climb back into my development and that is where things started to turn south. My right leg, had stared to cramp up.... did I drink on they way home???? DAMMIT!!!! So back to the truck after two cool down laps around the development and I felt really good, bonked a little bit on the last climb, but I never once stoped cause I could not go on. I would love to admit that I was not over joyed to see a red light at one intersection, but I did.

Number on the day!
Trip: 10.7 miles
Time: 48:53 min/sec
Avg: 13.1 mph
Max: 37.9 mph (on a MT bike ;) )

After publishing this blog, I came to realize that this may not be the hardest 10 miles in Harrisburg, but it should be on the list. If someone knows of a ride that is harder, please let me know.

To top off the day, Melissa and I went to the gym when she got out of work. 20 minuets on the stationary bike, on the hill setting, level 7. cadence around 98 to 104 and 200 calories. The really, really good news, from last month, the last time I am DOWN 20 lbs. Oh yea baby, you know you want it. Ahhaahahah