First "Real" Outdoor Ride of 2026

Everything aligned that I was able to get out for a long ride on Thursday. OUTSIDE! It was 50 degrees and the trails were drying well. I figured I'd get my tri-bike off the trainer for the first time in months, and I was HOPING I wouldn't get a flat on the dirty, gritty roads and trails.

I didn't have any speed goals... I just went to "ride." I tried to keep it sort of "moderate" most of the time, and then I found myself trying to keep my average above 20 mph (so much for "no speed goals"). I went down the Greenway and took the curve at Hwy 169 (where it becomes the Cedar Lake Trail I think), and then finally turned around at mile 16. That would have been a 32 mile out-and-back ride, but I re-rode some of the drier sections of the trail another time to make it more like 37+ miles. I kept my overall avearge at 20.0 mph or above until about mile 34.

Here are some pics from my last few miles when I busted out my phone:

The construction at the Keniworth trail is coming along! Fresh trail!


Nice stretches of the trail were clear and dry like this!...


... but other parts were QUITE wet.


Heading up to one of the many puddles that stretched all the way across the trail.

I hit one icy patch around mile 15, but otherwise things were good. I finished with 37+ miles with a 19.6 mph average before rolling around the neighborhood for another mile:

10 mph breeze FROM THE EAST was a nasty slap on the way home!


5-mile splits. I re-rode the section by the #2 split to add in miles...


Out-and-back riding "back" to the red line, then turning back
to the blue line, and then finally heading for home.


I think this is showing the BONK that I felt. Yikes.


Covered in puddle water and grit back at home.

My birthday is coming up, and I'm hoping I can get out for 45 miles for my 45th birthday. I hope we have some decent weather that day, because it's easy to do 10 miles in cruddy weather, but much harder to go longer (right now, the forecast high is 45 degrees, and that's right on my personal cusp of outside vs inside riding). I won't start that one with any speed goals... just with the goal to survive and hit 45 miles!