Crazy Train(ing)

The cool weather and an absolutely free afternoon, I figured I should try to push myself again. Not necessarily distance-wise, but maybe tackle some of the stuff I've been afraid of.



I started with some stuff I've done before, parked at Rosehill & Pflumn and went south on Pflumn to Midland, took the right at 67th and climbed to Lackman. That beast of a downhill from there to Blackfish Parkway, I hit 36.6 mph. Timed out the light, too, but because there were cars waiting at the light, I had to sacrifice this amazing momentum to pass them safely. Kept on Lackman to 90th and ended up on 95th, decided to take Prairie Star Parkway to Mize like the Panzon's group does. But I never saw Mize Rd. I saw lots of other roads and then all of a sudden I was at a dead end. On the backtrack, I looked again and still never saw a turn labeled 'Mize Rd.' or anything like it. And I couldn't tell what might or might not be through-streets since everything out here is stuff that was started right before the real estate bubble burst and there are a lot of developments on hold.



Ended up back at Woodland and took it to 47th, which turns into Holiday Drive, and that's a hairy stretch so I got on the Mill Creek trail down there and took that to Johnson Drive.



Which is where I learned that my fears are well founded. I handled Woodland okay, but those hills between K7 and I-435 on Johnson Drive are special. Normally, these days, I'm in good enough shape I can just get my granny gear on and grind it out. Just don't look at how far you have to go and sooner or later, you end up at the top. I even found myself gaining speed on gentle uphills on Woodland. Four times in the span of two climbs on this stretch of Johnson Drive I had to stop and gasp for breath, taking time to weep for the choices I'd made.



32.1 miles, average speed 11.0 mph (which was closer to 11.9 until I got to that nasty section of Johnson Drive).

I was glad for our freakishly cool weather: I started out in 77ºF weather and three hours later it had dropped to 66ºF. Might have thrown it in sooner if it'd also been hot out.