It's not just all about the bike

It was a long time coming, but I decided it was finally time I go for a ride with determination.

Spin class is fine, but it doesn't beat the real thing.

So I packed up the bike and headed to the downtown Kansas City Airport because in Oklahoma, it isn't just about the bike.

It's about the bike and a 25 mph headwind.

Of all my downfalls last year in training, I think failing to wind train was my biggest mistake. I did plenty of hill training. I would have been fine if I could pedal balls-out for 2 minutes and have a 30 second recovery as I coast down the backside.

But that isn't an option with wind. The wind at Redman was nothing more than 56 mile energy drain. I wasn't prepared for that.

This year will be different. I will be ready for the wind.

Thus, I head to the windiest place in Kansas City - the downtown airport. It is a 3 1/2 mile loop where, if there is wind, you will feel it.

I wanted to accomplish two things today.

First, I wanted to re-position the seat. Last year, I rode with my bike seat at about a 45 degree angle. That just seemed to work for me. That, and it kept the boys from getting beaten up as I rode.

So I adjusted the seat, tilting it to a more "normal" angle, jumped on the seat and immediately thought how lucky I was that I wasn't intending on donating sperm or trying to impregnate some lucky girl any time soon.

Because in tilting the seat, it raised the overall seat by about an inch and, instead of rocking back into a sitting position upon mounting the bike, I, well, lets say, jabbed myself with the pointy part of the bike seat.

Oops.

I rapidly dismounted the bike and lowered the seat about 1 1/2 inch.

Much better.

My second goal was to maintain a cadence of 65-75 rpm and never stop peddling. I wasn't cared about overall speed today. That will come with time. I just wanted to pedal at a constant rate and give my quads a good workout.

It worked.

I rode 5 loops around the airport

My quads are still burning.