Afton 90

This past Saturday I was ready to do a group ride. More miles, faster pase, conversations are more interesting—or should I say, there are conversations, then a solo ride.

I met the Loon group in White Bear Lake along the Gateway trail. We headed North East which took us on the Square Lake Road Race course. (damn—no wonder I almost DNFed during that race).

We headed south into Stillwater. I love that town. We stopped at this place called the Bikery. A bike shop and a bakery in the same building—Brilliant! I highly recommend stopping for a few pasties—it was soo good! Oli, the lady at the counter, was a trip. She made it feel like we were in some European coffee shop.


Before we left I ran back inside, a guy was in front of me holding a small child in one hand and pushing a Javelin bike in the other. I commented about the bike since my teammates ride that brand, then noticed the “Hollywood” sticker on the top tube. So then I got really excited and said “On my gosh, I’m on the Silver Team!” while wearing my Loon jersey (my new kit isn’t in yet). He looked at me and did this grunt sound like he really didn’t give a flying ____ what team I was on. When I got back I had a good chuckle with the guys about my “I don’t care” encounter.

We headed south to Afton. 40 miles, now I was starting to feel it. Neil told the group we will stay on the current road and regroup at 90th. I looked over to the nearest street sign not sure if I read it correctly.

Me to Larry: “did that just say 50th street”
Larry: “No, it said 30th Street”
Me: “What the hell? 60 blocks of climbing?”
Larry: “Yep”
Me to the group in a wearily tone: “ok see you at the top.”

I made it to the top. Damn was that hard. One dropped chain at the start. Three climbs. Two screaming downhills—including one so full of potholes you could lose something on that road. Although it was no cobblestones, I got a taste of what Paris-Roubaix was all about.

It was no century but for MN about 4,600 ft of climbing was enough. Until I looked at Levi Leipheimer’s twitter and saw he did about 10,000 in about the same amount of saddle time. Well—I’m no pro.

I need to get a Garmin. This is cool!

Oh if you’re wondering—not a word from my family on being 6 hours late. I’ve finally trained them! Although, no nap and 3 hours in a Catholic Church (8pm-11pm) with the lights ½ way down was a little bit harder to deal with then what I was expecting.

Tom is still looking good on the Podium even after his 100th career win at Paris-Roubaix. Now if I could only get one local win.

The best line of the ride came from Jorge while prepping for the above pic: "Just put the camera in the butt crack."