16 years really ?

The years blur together but some how Jenny and I have already been married for 16 years, add in 3 years of dating and we've been together more than half our lives. It's 3am as I type because this week has been a bit of a blur as well and I completely forgot it was the 22nd already. Too many questions about birthday party planning, work, fire calls and squeezing in some bike riding.

So here are a few pictures of where we started,





Two boys added along the way,




and this is what I'm lucky to have now, really glad I didn't take her almost running from my car after our first date as a bad sign.

Happy Anniversary

Gravel and Dirt

Thanks to the expected high temps and humidity Jenny and I headed for the woods this weekend. We rolled out early on the local rail trail which connects to Blue Mounds State Park and the single track trails we wanted to ride.

Jenny got to buy some new pedals for Kevin's mountain bike. She rides platforms off-road but I suggested they might not be so much fun for the rail-trail. The new pedals are one side spd opposite side a platform and seemed to work out. The bearings are still tight and she had to turn the platform side up by hand quite often.

This was the first time on single track this year for both of us and it showed. I was able to clear some of the tough spots but nothing close to what I was doing last season. We both went down at different times, Jenny came home worse off since she landed in some gravel. I fell off the trail when I failed to unclip, turned out my cleat was very loose.

In the end we had fun but came home more beat up than we hoped. The only casualty was Jenny's gloves which we tried to replace but so far no luck. She did come home with a new pair of cycling shoes, good deal at 25% off, glad the first shop didn't have the right size.

Early Morning Ride

Ok, so 7ish isn't that early except I got in bed just before 2am so it felt early. Two loops for a total of 30 miles, first round was with Jen along on her Klein second I went solo since she had a meeting.

Jenny goes for the emergency caffeine gel, turned out it just got a ride and dropped back at home. Real coffee is way better but from what I got via text messages she may have needed the gel to stay awake in her boring meeting.

My breakfast ride food choice is a bit less exciting, 365 brand fig cookies from Whole Foods. I hate gels and the cookies are cheap compared to "real" energy bars.

Quiet streets as we head west out of town so I'm out in the middle of the lane taking pictures.
More messing around in the street, look mom no hands.

A nice 2 mile downhill in the shade. Of course this downhill lead to 5 miles of winding uphill back into town. The climb is very gradual until the last mile which has one steep pitch followed by a pair of switchbacks.

Jenny laid down this patch of rubber doing a burnout skid.

A county park just outside the next village and the great view across the valley. The downhill from here is 3.5 miles and is way more fun than climbing it which takes me close to 30 minutes. On my way down I passed a couple I'd guess to be in their 60's headed up, hope I am still riding at that age.