Pulled over by the law

 Well it finally happened.
A) I finally got back on my bike and got some solid road work in today
B) The sun finally returned
C) The rain finally stopped
D) I got pulled over by the law!
Finally.


The stars aligned. I had an open Saturday morning and the weather was near-perfect. So as my poor wife headed into work on a Saturday, I headed for the Madone. I was on the road heading west by 9:15 in the morning, the earliest start to a ride for me this season.


It was effortless.
Both mind and body were fully-charged and things were coming easy riding out to Wales. I would find out later that one reason I felt so good was that what I THOUGHT was a cross wind going out was actually more like a tail wind because I had it in the face coming home. But it wasn't bad at all.


Sunny
75-ish
Light wind, 5-10
54 miles, past Dousman to the end of the paved trail and back


I got to Wales just taking it easy, spinning up the false flat to the rest stop at a steady low-90's rpm. There I ate a granola bar and quickly decided to keep going to Dousman today.  The trail was busy with people, mostly bike riders enjoying the day. Then it finally happened...


Between Wales and Dousman heading west the rangers had the path blocked with a large ATV vehicle. One ranger in full ranger uniform was on the side of the path writing a ticket to a bike rider while another woman working with the ranger was waving me down to stop. They were checking for the needed trail pass.


I made the lady laugh out loud as I unclipped and came to a stop saying, "Finally. I've been waiting two years to get checked in here just so I could whip out the pass I bought!" She replied, "Right, make it worth your while." Exactly. Pretty funny. I figured it would happen sooner or later and I actually wanted to be checked.


The corn you ride right past heading toward Dousman is already knee high. None of this knee high by fourth of July...it's already there or higher.


Once in Dousman I stopped at Bicycle Doctor, my plan being I would raid my emergency $$ in my saddle bag and buy a Powerbar for the ride home. Huh. Turns out I must have used that emergency money earlier and forgot to replace it because there was no cash to be found. So I took the path west up to  the  point where it turns into gravel, then turned around and headed back.


A quick stop at Wales again for the second granola bar I had brought along. My wife picked up something new...nice thought but bad result. While they tasted great, they had a layer of something sweet on the bottom, something that had turned to a mushy goo while heating up in my jersey pocket.


I did a little hard tempo between Wales and Waukesha, where the downhill false flat invites you to pick up the pace to the low 20's. After that it was mostly just sight-seeing along the busy path, and by sight-seeing I mean girl watching of course.


All was well until only a few blocks from home. My left quad suddenly had a massive failure after starting from a stop light. The thing wanted to knot up so bad that I thought I would have to walk the final two blocks! I guess that's from doing 54 miles with no training in your legs to build up to that.


Pleased today to be back.
Tour de France starts one week from today.
Don't forget to enter the PhilCast Pick the Podium contest. Go to the contest page at thephilcast.com for details.
Season Miles: 1.046