Saturday I didnt ride from Meramec. Instead, I wanted to ride on my own. I wanted to leave later. I wanted to ride at my own pace in whatever gear and not feel obligated to ride faster or slower. I wanted the chance to explore where a road goes, to look at the animals, to smell the blooming flowers. Most of all I wanted to ride for the enjoyment, not for training. And yesterday was a darn fine day to do so. Sunny for the first half before turning cloudy. The temperatures were probably in the 50's. It seemed like October.
In brief, I left from home and went into Arnold to Church Rd to get to Old Lemay. I turned left on Spring Forest down to Seckman. There is still a lot of construction on Seckman. Except for having no shoulder and a foot and a half dropoff, the road itself is a piece of freshly paved bicycle heaven. Then it was left onto Frisco Hill Rd. Up 'til then I had been in the big ring and had to decide if I wanted to tackle hill this too. Why not? The climb wasn't as bad as I thought it might be but, then again, I wasn't about to set any speed records.
I flatted on Four Ridge and the clouds came rolling in. Dark, threatening clouds that looked like rainmakers that never produced anything. Once in Valley Park I turned right up 141. Normally, I would avoid 141 because of the traffic but the shoulder helped and it was the most direct way for me to ride up the Fabicksbert (aka Klagesberg). Along the way I spotted a road called May Valley just off of 141. I had heard this was a pretty tough climb so I stopped, crossed through a couple drainage ditches and proceeded to check this climb out. It's a good subdivision climb but not brutal. While going up the climb a black SUV pulls up next to me. It was Kent Jones. He recognized my yellow arm warmers. We chatted for a bit until another car came up from behind.
Once I reached the top, I had to decide whether to go back or guess which direction to turn on Summit. I chose to turn right and got myself completely twisted around and pretty much lost. I'll need to look at a map and see how that happened. My internal compass was all mixed up. Eventually I made my way back to 141 at Hawkins and continued on my. The Fabicksberg is still more gravelly than it used to be but its not too bad.
Ride time: 3.5 hrs. Calves are a little sore today. The big ring climbing took its toll.
In brief, I left from home and went into Arnold to Church Rd to get to Old Lemay. I turned left on Spring Forest down to Seckman. There is still a lot of construction on Seckman. Except for having no shoulder and a foot and a half dropoff, the road itself is a piece of freshly paved bicycle heaven. Then it was left onto Frisco Hill Rd. Up 'til then I had been in the big ring and had to decide if I wanted to tackle hill this too. Why not? The climb wasn't as bad as I thought it might be but, then again, I wasn't about to set any speed records.
I flatted on Four Ridge and the clouds came rolling in. Dark, threatening clouds that looked like rainmakers that never produced anything. Once in Valley Park I turned right up 141. Normally, I would avoid 141 because of the traffic but the shoulder helped and it was the most direct way for me to ride up the Fabicksbert (aka Klagesberg). Along the way I spotted a road called May Valley just off of 141. I had heard this was a pretty tough climb so I stopped, crossed through a couple drainage ditches and proceeded to check this climb out. It's a good subdivision climb but not brutal. While going up the climb a black SUV pulls up next to me. It was Kent Jones. He recognized my yellow arm warmers. We chatted for a bit until another car came up from behind.
Once I reached the top, I had to decide whether to go back or guess which direction to turn on Summit. I chose to turn right and got myself completely twisted around and pretty much lost. I'll need to look at a map and see how that happened. My internal compass was all mixed up. Eventually I made my way back to 141 at Hawkins and continued on my. The Fabicksberg is still more gravelly than it used to be but its not too bad.
Ride time: 3.5 hrs. Calves are a little sore today. The big ring climbing took its toll.
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